phil@brahms.amd.com (Phil Ngai) (01/24/91)
Intel Takes AMD Legal Battle to California Supreme Court Intel Corp. has asked the California Supreme Court to block an arbitrator's right to award damages to AMD in the firms' breach-of-contract dispute. The arbitrator--retired state judge J. Barton Phelps--ruled on Oct. 11 that the Santa Clara, Calif., company had breached its contract with AMD and that AMD is entitled to damages. He also declared that AMD had failed to keep its promise to deliver certain chips to Intel. AMD, of Sunnyvale, Calif., is seeking $500 million in damages, but Phelps could also decide to award AMD rights to manufacture the 386 chip, which is available only from Intel. In mid-November, Phelps began closed hearings to determine damages. This phase will take at least six months, said F. Thomas Dunlap, Intel's general counsel, in Santa Clara, Calif. Following Phelps' Oct. 11 decision, Intel asked Superior Court Judge Ronald Whyte, who oversees the two companies' arbitration, to declare that Phelps does not have authority to award damages. Whyte rejected Intel's request, as did the State Court of Appeals in December. Late last month, Intel appealed to the state Supreme Court. (This came from PC Week. I do not speak for anyone.) -- When someone drinks and drives and hurts someone, the abuser is blamed. When someone drinks and handles a gun and hurts someone, the media calls for a gun ban.