Intel loses fight over FTC lawyer
The judge hearing the FTC's antitrust action against Intel denied its request to oust one of the agency's top litigators.
In a motion filed under seal last month, Intel sought to disqualify Richard Parker, deputy director of the FTC's bureau of competition and the lead attorney prosecuting the agency's case against Intel, as first reported by CNET News.com. The Santa Clara, California, chipmaker objected to work Parker performed on behalf of Intel archrival Advanced Micro Devices. A top AMD executive is scheduled to testify against Intel in the trial, which is set to start March 9.
Timony's order comes as the names of two new potential trial witnesses emerged. They are Dean A. Klein, former chief technical officer of Micron Electronics, and Donald Lewine, an engineering consultant with Data General. Intel objected to both witnesses being called at the trial, as well as the calling of AMD chief operating officer Atiq Raza. Timony rejected the requests late last week.
The loss of Parker could have been huge for the FTC.
"There's a lot at stake for the commission, because Rich is perhaps the most capable person to litigate this case in the bureau of competition," said William Kovacic, a visiting professor at George Washington University. His disqualification "would be the equivalent of having one of your premier, all-star performers having to sit on the bench."
For more than 20 years before he came to the FTC, Parker was a partner at O'Melveny & Myers, a law firm that has close ties to AMD. In 1997, Parker helped AMD respond to civil subpoenas that ultimately led to the filing of the FTC's complaint against Intel, Timony noted. In the early 1990s, the law firm helped AMD prevail against Intel in a high-profile battle over "microcode" to the 386 and 486 chips. Tom McCoy, an O'Melveny partner who oversaw a number of AMD's disputes with Intel, eventually became general counsel for the smaller chipmaker.
AMD has harbored a longstanding gripe with Intel over its alleged strong-arm tactics within the chip industry and has not been shy in sharing its complaints with FTC investigators, according to people familiar with the matter. As previously reported, AMD chief operating officer Atiq Raza is a potential FTC witness in the trial.
Under ethical guidelines established by the government, prosecutors are supposed to advocate on behalf of the general public, not any particular person or company, said John Steele, a partner at Fenwick & West who teaches an ethics class at the University of California at Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law.
In a complaint filed in June, the FTC accused Intel of maintaining its alleged monopoly in the microchip industry by withholding crucial technical information from computer companies that refused to license their intellectual property in ways that benefited Intel. The FTC alleges Intel's actions--taken against computer makers Intergraph, Compaq Computer, and Digital Equipment--illegally thwart competition.