WASHINGTON — Intel Corp. won another key round in the long-running patent and antitrust lawsuit filed against it by Intergraph Corp. when a federal judge in Birmingham, Ala., dismissed Intergraph's antitrust claims.

U.S. District Judge Edwin Nelson based his March 10 decision to dismiss Intergraph's antitrust suit on two recent rulings, one involving Intergraph (Huntsville, Ala.). Nelson said Intel didn't violate antitrust laws when it withheld technical data needed to develop Intel-based computers.

Intergraph had filed a separate patent infringement suit against Intel after it had filed the antitrust suit. Nelson dismissed Intergraph's patent claims against Intel last year.

An injunction forcing Intel to give Intergraph access to product information was granted by Nelson in April 1998. A federal appeals court overturned that injunction last November.

In a statement released Tuesday, Intergraph said it "continues to pursue its state tort and contract claims against Intel," including unfair business practices and breach of contract. The company said it is also awaiting an appeals court decision here on its patent case against Intel.

"Intergraph plans to maintain a good working relationship with Intel, so that we can continue to receive the microprocessors and other Intel products we need for our state-of-the-art, high-performance computer systems," the company's statement said.

An Intel spokesman pronounced the world's largest chip maker "gratified" with the decision. "The ruling followed the [appeals court's] Nov. 5 ruling which vacated Judge Nelson's April '98 preliminary injunction," the spokesman said. He said Intel asked Judge Nelson for a summary judgment dismissing Intergraph's antitrust suit in late February.

Intel remains under investigation by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on other antitrust issues. Intergraph said a consent decree that Intel signed with the FTC last March affords "us a second level of protection for our hardware business." Intel agreed in the decree to stop coercive business practices against Intergraph.