EU Hits Intel With $400 Million Antitrust Fine in Long-Running Computer Chip Case 

 01 September 2022, Berlin: Intel logo seen at the IFA electronics trade show. (dpa)
01 September 2022, Berlin: Intel logo seen at the IFA electronics trade show. (dpa)
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EU Hits Intel With $400 Million Antitrust Fine in Long-Running Computer Chip Case 

 01 September 2022, Berlin: Intel logo seen at the IFA electronics trade show. (dpa)
01 September 2022, Berlin: Intel logo seen at the IFA electronics trade show. (dpa)

European Union antitrust enforcers slapped Intel on Friday with a fresh $400 million fine in a long-running legal fight that the chipmaker appeared to have won last year.

The European Commission imposed the 376.4-million-euro fine after a court threw out an original 1.06-billion-euro penalty issued in 2009 over allegations that the Santa Clara, California-based company used illegal sales tactics to shut out smaller rival AMD.

The commission, the 27-nation bloc's top antitrust watchdog, accused Intel of abusing its dominant position in the global market for x86 microprocessors with a strategy to exclude rivals by using rebates and sales restrictions.

The EU’s General Court last year annulled the original decision, saying that the commission's analysis of the rebates didn't meet legal standards.

However, the court confirmed that the sales restrictions amounted to an abuse of Intel's dominant market position. It couldn't decide how the total fine could be divided up between the two offenses, leaving the commission to come up with a new number.

“The lower fine imposed by today’s decision reflects the narrower scope of the infringement compared to the 2009 Commission decision,” the EU watchdog said.

Intel's European press team didn't respond immediately to an email seeking comment.



Google Wins Challenge Against 1.49 Bln Euro EU Antitrust Fine 

12 May 2023, US, Mountain View: The Google logo can be seen on a building at the company's headquarters. (dpa)
12 May 2023, US, Mountain View: The Google logo can be seen on a building at the company's headquarters. (dpa)
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Google Wins Challenge Against 1.49 Bln Euro EU Antitrust Fine 

12 May 2023, US, Mountain View: The Google logo can be seen on a building at the company's headquarters. (dpa)
12 May 2023, US, Mountain View: The Google logo can be seen on a building at the company's headquarters. (dpa)

Alphabet unit Google won its challenge on Wednesday against a 1.49 billion euro ($1.66 billion) antitrust fine imposed five years ago for hindering rivals in online search advertising, a week after it lost a much bigger case.

The European Commission in its 2019 decision said Google had abused its dominance to prevent websites from using brokers other than its AdSense platform that provided search adverts. The practices it said were illegal took place from 2006 to 2016.

The Luxembourg-based General Court mostly agreed with the European Union competition enforcer's assessments of the case, but annulled the fine.

"The court (...) upheld most of the commission's assessments, but annulled the decision imposing a fine of almost 1.5 billion euros on Google, on the grounds in particular that it had failed to take into account all the relevant circumstances in its assessment of the duration of the contractual clauses that it had found to be unfair," the judges said.

The AdSense fine, one of a trio of fines that have cost Google a total of 8.25 billion euros, was triggered by a complaint from Microsoft in 2010.

Google has said it changed the targeted contracts in 2016 before the Commission's decision.

The company last week lost its final fight against a 2.42 billion euro fine levied for using its price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals.