Europe's highest court sides with Intel – ends lengthy antitrust case
The EU Court of Justice ruled in favour of Intel on Thursday, bringing an end to a nearly 20-year antitrust battle between the U.S. chipmaker and EU regulators who accused Intel of engaging in anti-competitive practices to undermine its rival, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
This decision affirms a prior ruling by a lower court in favour of Intel. In its statement, the Court of Justice said, "The Court of Justice dismisses the Commission’s appeal, thereby upholding the judgment of the General Court."
The European Commission had originally fined Intel for providing rebates to major computer manufacturers, including Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Lenovo, for sourcing most of their chips from Intel. Regulators claimed that these rebates were designed to stifle competition from AMD, Reuters reports..
Typically, regulators are cautious about rebates offered by dominant companies, viewing them as potentially harmful to competition. However, companies argue that such discounts should only be penalised if there is clear evidence of anti-competitive effects.
Initially, the European Commission imposed a fine of EUR 1.06 billion (USD 1.14 billion) on Intel, but this fine was annulled by a lower court. Intel’s defense gained further momentum earlier this year when a legal advisor to the court noted that regulators had failed to conduct a thorough economic analysis of the case, the report continues.
