AMD wanted the documents to be available to the European Commission for its antitrust probe of Intel. Intel was notified of the ruling but hasn't yet received the background memorandum behind the decision, a spokesman said.

AMD had filed the suit seeking to unseal discovery material obtained by Intergraph Corp. in that firm's antitrust suit against Intel. AMD said it believed the information would be of use to the EC in its ongoing antitrust investigation.

Intel had argued that AMD had no legal standing to seek thedocuments, and the EC should make its own petition to the court if the European agency wanted the information.

The years-old Intergraph case involved Intel's handling of processor interface and other data, which the workstation firm claimed thwrated competition. Parts of that case have been dismissed and portions are still ongoing.