Updated on Wednesday, November 04, 2009, 23:20 IST Tags:Antitrust, Intel

New York: New York's attorney general has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel Corp., claiming the company used "illegal threats and collusion" to dominate the marketplace for computer microprocessors.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo claims that the world's biggest computer chip maker tried to prevent the sale of competitors' products by paying billions of dollars in kickbacks to computer manufacturers. The attorney general also says Intel retaliated against companies that did too much business with its rivals.

Cuomo says the company's practices were revealed in internal e-mails obtained in an investigation that has lasted for nearly two years.

In May Intel was fined $1.45 billion by the European Union over similar charges. The company has denied wrongdoing.

Bureau Report