Published: Tuesday August 9, 2005
South Korea: Come for the antitrust investigation, stay for the soju
By JOHN PACZKOWSKI
I hope Intel's legal team likes bulgogi, because they're going to
be eating a lot of it in the months ahead. South Korea's Fair Trade
Commission said Tuesday it has launched a probe into the company's
rebate and marketing programs, the same programs under scrutiny in
the U.S., Japan, and Europe (see "Unit 3, on my mark, blow the
door, toss the stun grenade and go for the files"). "We decided to
investigate Intel's business practices in Korea after coming across
news reports that Intel abused its dominant market position in
Japan and strong-armed Japanese computer manufacturers, violating
antitrust rules,'' Kang Dae-hyung, vice chairman of South Korea's
Fair Trade Commission, said during a press conference. "We haven't
found any irregularity in Intel's business deals with Korean PC
makers yet. We requested the submission of related documents,
including contracts with Intel's U.S. headquarters, to look into
the matter in detail." For Intel, which has been broadly accused of
a number of anti-competitive practices, including secret and
discriminatory discounts and rebates, the probe adds to the
intensifying scrutiny of the company's market dominance (see "Intel
to play Luca Brasi role in 'Godfather' remake"). Intel said it is
cooperating with the investigation and "expects that these matters
will be acceptably resolved."
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