"Now courts are much better at recognizing how behavior can be anticompetitive even if it's characterized by a pro-competitive veneer, " Balto says.

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"Intel claims that all it's doing is pro-competitive discounting, " says Balto.

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David Balto, a former policy director for the Federal Trade Commission, now in private practice, says that the legal definition of anticompetitive practices has changed since 1998.

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By the same token, displays of evident affection on their parts and extraordinary tales of the conscience and loyalty of Balto, for example, or the miraculous intelligence of Alex the African gray notwithstanding, most nonhuman animals don't really feel the same way about us.

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For instance, although Intel's practice of providing rebates to retailers who sell PCs with Intel chips inside, could be interpreted as an innocent discount, Balto says he expects to see courts scrutinize the policies to assess whether Intel deliberately took measures to hamper AMD's ability to get PCs using its chips displayed and sold by retailers.

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