Intel deleted court ordered emails

"The dog ate my email" - Intel had better come up with a good reason why it can't find court-ordered emails.

Lawsuits can sometimes be pretty ugly ordeals, particularly the long and drawn-out dances making up most anti-trust cases. Often, the start of these proceedings require a "hold" on sensitive information, to prevent it from disappearing during the long trial period. Intel was given one of these hold orders as it defended against its lawsuit from AMD - too bad the company didn't follow it.

In a briefing from AMD about the suit, the company's lawyers mentioned that Intel apparently "misplaced" some rather important (i.e. incriminating) emails and other documents related to the case. These documents had been court-ordered to be preserved, as they were part of the evidence behind the lawsuit. Apparently, somewhere amidst all the commotion, Intel forgot to send notices to over 400 employees involved and request that they archive their mail. Oops.

Of course, AMD does not go so far as to say that it happened maliciously. Instead, the company blames bad communication, poor oversight, and complete data-retention incompetence. "Though all the facts are not in, potentially massive amounts of e-mail correspondence generated and received by Intel executives and employees since the filing of the lawsuit may be irretrievably lost, as may other relevant electronic documents," the company said in its briefing.

Intel has acknowledged that it may not have been as fastidious in its data retention as it had outlined that it would be in July of 2005 (when the court demanded the data be held), and has largely blamed the issue on "simple mistakes" and "human error." Basically, when you're a huge, multi-national corporation responsible for a tremendous amount of the world's digital infrastructure, some things just get lost. Terrific document retention and control policies, here we come.

Though it failed to notify some very key (who just ended up unnotified absolutely at random, of course) employees whatsoever, it "over-notified" others who weren't even on the list, and promised that these new people "continue to be a potential source of documents if necessary." Not the documents that pertain to the case, but who's worried about that?

Somehow, I doubt that will be of any consolation to AMD's lawyers, who may have a pretty big fight on their hands. Intel's lawyers are, of course, incredibly apologetic for the incident. In the meantime, The Inquirer's very own Spinola Offsite Data Storage (SODS) has a copy that people can use to read some of the lost mail, if you're interested. (note: this very last bit is a joke, please don't yell at us or The Inq...but come on, it's funny - Ed.)

Got a thought on Intel's document faux pas? Tell us about it in our forums.
Quote randosome 7th March 2007, 08:40
I wonder what the courts will do about it, i mean it may be human error but its still evidence in the case ....

i mean what happens if a police officer accidentally shreds a piece of evidence ... i assume not very good things, and the same thing should happen to intel

Its nice to know all those joke emails that go round Intel do get deleted eventually though, instead of being logged for all eternity :p
(note: i do not know if Intel actually has joke emails going round, although id be surprised if they didn't)
Quote DougEdey 7th March 2007, 09:41
It's called obstructing the course of justice. It's illegal.
Quote sinizterguy 7th March 2007, 10:01
Almost standard legal tactics - thats illegal - but something they might not get called up for as badly for compared to them preserving the evidence.
Quote Burnout21 7th March 2007, 10:02
Does anyone know why AMD are taking Intel to Court?

Intel, naughty naughty, a company that big and they can't even find a few deleted files.

If they accidently deleted a part of a CPU core design i bet they could find it again pretty quick!!!

It must be company policy to delete unwanted emails via the method of large magnet to HDD's!!! lol
Quote HugoB 7th March 2007, 10:19
I bet if AMD were in the same situation they's "loose" a few E-Mails as well....
Quote DougEdey 7th March 2007, 10:24
Quote:
Originally Posted by Burnout21
Does anyone know why AMD are taking Intel to Court?

Basically forcing clients to buy Intel.
Quote Burnout21 7th March 2007, 10:34
Quote:
Originally Posted by DougEdey
Basically forcing clients to buy Intel.


That still going on! Thats been going for years! Since the days of old school SKT A Athlons!!!

Still got my xp-m, clocked to the nuts, yes i need all of that to use winamp! lol
Quote Dr. Strangelove 7th March 2007, 12:52
I guess it basically comes down to this: If Intel looses the emails they may get a fine or something like that for loosing it. If they kept the emails they might face a GIANT fine (assuming that the lost emails were not helping Intels case).

Fine and reprimand vs GIANT fine (loosing the case), not a difficult choice really (laws be dammed)
Quote Woodstock 7th March 2007, 19:47
cough backup cough
Quote MarkeH 7th March 2007, 21:12
I dont understand why Intel were charged with keeping the evidence safe for a court case they are involved with. If i murdered somebody, the police wouldnt leave the murder weapon under my control untill the court date, would they? "Ok, please keep the knife safe that you stabbed Mr.Imaginary Person with, we wont be able to build a case against you without it."

:(
Quote randosome 7th March 2007, 21:30
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkeH
I dont understand why Intel were charged with keeping the evidence safe for a court case they are involved with. If i murdered somebody, the police wouldnt leave the murder weapon under my control untill the court date, would they? "Ok, please keep the knife safe that you stabbed Mr.Imaginary Person with, we wont be able to build a case against you without it."

:(
yeah but thats not quite the same i think, its like telling intel not to wash their underwear from when they murdered the person
Quote Vash-HT 7th March 2007, 21:32
Can someone please explain to me why I keep seeing people on the internet using loose in place of lose? For god's sakes i see people getting called loosers in online games.
Quote Havok154 8th March 2007, 03:52
Didn't the RIAA win a case because someone formatted their hard drive after receiving a notice about illegal downloading of music. The court then considered that admission of guilt and ruled in favor of the dev...I mean, music industry.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vash-HT
Can someone please explain to me why I keep seeing people on the internet using loose in place of lose? For god's sakes i see people getting called loosers in online games.

I see this too and it bugs me to no end. I started seeing people replace lose with loose about 2-3 years ago, and every year it gets worse. Can't figure out why there's only a handful of people that remember loose is a term used to make fun of someone's mom and lose is what happens when you gamble in Vegas.
Quote El1m1nate 8th March 2007, 04:56
cant they just use a data recovery program??? or has every person formatted the hd, does intel use hard erasing?
Quote randosome 8th March 2007, 19:20
Quote:
Originally Posted by El1m1nate
cant they just use a data recovery program??? or has every person formatted the hd, does intel use hard erasing?
yes they could

however, i suspect the story is more likely to go by with him putting a large magnet near it, or using the bit in the drive where your meant to put a pin or whatever to destroy the data
Quote Phil Rhodes 9th March 2007, 12:25
How dare everyone be so unhesitatingly critical!

It is obviously completely inconceivable that any large company would intentionally destroy sensitive documentation, especially in circumstances where the penalty for nondisclosure is less severe than the possible penalties resulting from disclosure. Large companies are not, in any way, the corporate equivalent of what in a human being would be called an incorrigibly greedy psychopath. It's not that global outfits like Intel, AMD, Microsoft, et. al. have no concept of "enough" or "moderation"; they're actually run by perfectly lovely people, probably the sort who serve soup to homeless people on the weekends.

In short, big companies are not lying, cheating, law-flouting piss-takers who'll sequester anything they can get their glue-coated, grasping fingers on.

Oh no. Hang on.

P
Quote cpemma 9th March 2007, 23:06
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkeH
I dont understand why Intel were charged with keeping the evidence safe for a court case they are involved with. If i murdered somebody, the police wouldnt leave the murder weapon under my control untill the court date, would they?
Had the police been involved they would have lawfully seized any likely evidence on day 1. But this is a civil lawsuit, and asking the defendant to produce the plaintiff's evidence is always optimistic.
Log in

You are not logged in, please login with your forum account below. If you don't already have an account please register to start contributing.







Mobile Phones

LG Arena ReviewHTC Magic Review

Compare over 250 mobile phones &
52,000 deals!



Broadband

Mobile Broadband

Compare over 100 broadband & mobile broadband deals online!