NY Attorney General files lawsuit against Intel

The Attorney General of New York has filed a lawsuit against the world's largest chip maker Intel Corp, for violating anti-monopoly rules to dominate the market for microprocessors.

Intel has been sued by Attorney General Andrew M Cuomo, following a nearly two-year investigation into the issue.

Cuomo said the company violated state and federal anti-monopoly laws by engaging in a worldwide, systematic campaign of illegal conduct, to maintain its monopoly and prices in the market for microprocessors.

"Rather than compete fairly, Intel used bribery and coercion to maintain a stranglehold on the market," Cuomo said in a statement on Wednesday.

The lawsuit has alleged that over last several years, the firm extracted exclusive agreements from large computer makers in which they agreed to use Intel's microprocessors in exchange for payments worth billions of dollars.

Earlier this year, European authorities had fined Intel nearly $1.5 billion for anti-competitive practices. The firm has denied those allegations and is fighting that case.

Cuomo's lawsuit has sought to bar further anti-competitive acts by Intel, "restore lost competition, recover monetary damages suffered by New York governmental entities and consumers, and collect penalties".