Keeping within the borders

Plaintiffs in a class-action anti-trust lawsuit with Intel will have to graze within the U.S. borders, according to a decision by a federal judge this week.

The judge dismissed portions of the plaintiffs' claims, which in part were based on Intel's alleged misconduct in foreign countries. Intel, however, asked the court to dismiss those portions, citing it fell outside of the court's jurisdiction.

Intel also argued that the plaintiff's foreign conduct allegations were virtually identical to the ones the court struck down in Advanced Micro Device's anti-trust complaint. AMD filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel in 2005 and pursed claims based on allegations of misconduct by Intel in other countries, such as Japan.

A special master assigned to the case, however, is permitting the class-action group and AMD to continue collecting information on Intel's foreign marketing and sales efforts, on the chance they may find it will help their U.S. case, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal.