Federal Trade Commission suspends case against Intel

Intel and the FTC will work together to end their legal tussle

Intel and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are working together to end their anti-trust dispute.

Intel has announced that its lawyers, and their counterparts from the FTC, have agreed to suspend current trial proceedings with a view to settling the case.

In a statement posted on its website, Intel said: "Lawyers for the FTC and Intel today filed a joint motion to suspend administrative trial proceedings while the parties consider potential settlement of the case originally filed by the FTC on December 16 2009.

"The motion opens a window through July 22 2010, during which time the parties will review and discuss a proposed consent order."

The direct statement signals a new move in the anti-trust case which first came to light last year, and calls for a suspension of almost a month for negotiations.

The FTC fired its lawsuit against Intel in December last year, accusing the firm of anti-competitive behaviour designed to wipe out competitors including Nividia and AMD.

Intel released a far less amicable statement at the time, saying: "The FTC's case is misguided. It is based largely on claims that the FTC added at the last minute and has not investigated.

"In addition, it is explicitly not based on existing law but is instead intended to make new rules for regulating business conduct. These new rules would harm consumers by reducing innovation and raising prices."