Digital fires shot at Intel monopoly

Digital has launched another broadside at Intel in the latest episode of its ongoing legal wrangle with the chip manufacturer, accusing the company of wielding monopoly power.

The attack came just hours before the company announced fourth quarter earnings which, despite revealing a slight drop in year-on-year turnover, signalled a continuing improvement in the hardware giant?s fortunes since a major restructure last year.

Digital?s accusations appeared in court papers filed in California, which slammed Intel for acting in bad faith by demanding the return of documents about its next generation of chips.

Digital posted a profit of $124 million for its fourth quarter ended June 28, compared with a net loss of $433 million for the same period last year. For the full fiscal year, the company reported a profit of $141 million, compared with a net loss of $112 million, which included a restructuring charge of $492 million the previous year.

Digital chief executive Bob Palmer pointed out that the company has achieved improvements for the third quarter running, and attributed the upturn to increased PC and server sales.