The Federal Trade Commission is moving closer to filing its antitrust lawsuit against Intel Corp, Reuters reported from Washington on Tuesday. William J Baer, the FTC’s top litigator, has apparently recommended that the Commission should go ahead and sue Intel, alleging antitrust violations, said the report. A vote on the recommendation is now expected to take place next week. With Federal Trade Commissioner Mary Azcuenaga, stepping down near the end of her second term of office, earlier speculation had been that the decision whether to go ahead with anti-trust proceedings would be taken by the remaining four members of the FTC. Azcuenaga’s replacement must be first nominated by the White House, then go before the Senate for its approval, all of which looks unlikely, particularly with legislative elections coming up in November. That said, the possibility then exists for a tied vote, as happened when the FTC was deciding whether to take action against Microsoft in the browser wars. That time the tie resulted in the baton being handed on to the FTC’s fellow competition watchdog, the Department of Justice, though the possibility of the Commission failing to reach a conclusion in the Intel case now looks much less likely. One source close to Azcuenaga’s colleagues thought the possibility of a tie was ‘significantly smaller’ than in the Microsoft case, suggesting that proceedings will go ahead.
