LUXEMBOURG, Oct 25 – Intel won a major antitrust case against the European Commission on Thursday as the European Court of Justice (ECJ) upheld the annulment of a €1.06 billion (US$1.14 billion) fine.
The ruling dismisses an appeal made by the commission following an earlier ruling by the European Union General Court.
The marathon legal battle started in 2009 when the commission imposed the then record fine on Intel for abuse of a dominant market position in certain central processing units (CPUs).
The EU’s top competition watchdog said the US chip producing giant attempted to force competitors out of the market using loyalty rebates with major computer manufacturers.
These rebates were made conditional that the computer manufacturers only used Intel products, and not those offered by competitors, the commission charged.
An appeal from Intel against the fine set off a long-running legal saga that saw the EU General Court eventually throw out the commission’s original fine.
The EU General Court ruled that the commission’s economic analysis for the fine did not demonstrate to the necessary legal standard that Intel’s practices had anticompetitive effects.
The ECJ’s ruling on the commission’s unsuccesful appeal on Thursday brings the 15-year-old legal battle to a close.
Commenting on the ruling, a spokeswoman for the commission said “we take note of the judgement and we will, of course, carefully assess it.”
