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Prosecutors in a class certification hearing moved a step close to a class action lawsuit against AMD and Nvidia after the presiding judge described the latest evidence as important.
The email between executives at the firm suggesting that they ‘work together’ lead Judge William Alsup to say "That’s not good for the defense." Earlier in the case Alsup had lambasted defense lawyers for attempting to hold back incriminating evidence under the guise of it being ‘trade secrets’.
"This court is not a wholly-owned subsidiary of your companies," he scorned at Nvidia and AMD’s laywers. "I am against you hiding information from the public." He also issued them with a stark warning: "If we get to summary judgement in this case, nothing will be under seal. Turning to the prosecution’s lawyer William Isaacson, Alsup said: "[I don’t care] if it is under seal and it is the recipe for Coke, you have my permission to blurt it out."
The comments came after AMD attorney Stephen C. Neal had criticised the prosecutor’s financial expert, describing the grounds for the class action as "woefully defective" and that the analysis amounted to "little more than economic sophistry."
However, the email between Nvidia’s senior vice president of marketing Dan Vivoli and ATi’s president and chief operating officer Dave Orton, the prosecution put forward read in part: "I really think we should work harder together on the marketing front. As you and I have talked about, even though we are competitors, we have the common goal of making our category a well positioned, respected playing field. $5 and $8 stocks are a result of no respect."
If the judge grants it class action, it will join the much earlier DRAM case as the second of of five hearings going through the courts in the US to be given the status.
Source: Law.com
