EU General Court Annulled $1.2 billion Antitrust Fine on Intel

Intel company law insider

Shivani Gadhavi

Published On: January 27, 2022 at 17:02 IST

The European Union General Court on January 26, 2022 gave a Decision in the favor of Multinational Corporation and Technology Company – Intel, in the Case regarding Antitrust Fine imposed on Intel by European Union Commission.

In 2009, the European Union Commission had Penalized the Multinational Company of $1.2 billion for attempting to block sales of rival chip making company Advanced Micro Devices by providing Rebates to companies that make computers vis-a-vis Dell, Hewlett Packard, NEC and Lenovo so that these companies buy chips manufactured by Intel.

In 2014, the European Union’s Antitrust arm rejected Intel’s Plea of challenging the Penalty. In 2017, European Union’s General Court asked a lower Tribunal to examine and peruse arguments given by Intel in 2014.

In regards with the examination done by the Tribunal, the General Court in the present Case criticized the Tribunal for not checking all the facts and arguments regarding the Case and not giving a proper Decision relating to Intel’s Rebates.

The General Court stated that the analysis given by the Tribunal was “incomplete” and that the Decision at the time “does not make it possible to establish to the requisite Legal Standard that the Rebates at issue were capable of having, or likely to have, Anti-Competitive Effects.”

The General Court annulled the Penalty by the European Union Commission. It was found that regulators of companies must prove that the Rebates giving dominant companies have Anti-Competitive Effects before filing a Case.

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