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Intel has won an appeal against the EUR 1.06 billion fine issued against the company in 2009 by the European Commission for anti-competitive practices. In a review of the decision, the EU's General Court found that Commission did not sufficiently prove its case that rebates granted by Intel to customers contributed to the exclusion of competitors from the market.
While Intel lost an initial appeal against the fine, it succeeded in 2017 in convincing the court to grant a review of the case. The EU's Court of Justice sent the case back to the lower General Court to re-examine Intel's arguments against the European Commission's decision.
The ECJ found that the General Court, which upheld the EC decision in Intel's initial appeal in 2014, did not examine thoroughly enough Intel's arguments. In particular, Intel alleged certain errors by the EC in its efficient competitor test, which it used to judge whether competitors could match Intel's pricing.
The Commission originally found that Intel abused its dominant position on the market for x86 processors between October 2002 and December 2007. The company allegedly gave rebates to computer manufacturers on condition that they bought all, or almost all, their CPUs from Intel, making it difficult for rivals to compete on price.
In re-examining the case, the General Court found that the Commission's arguments were incomplete and did not reach the legal standard necessary to show that the rebates did indeed restrict competition or that Intel had violated EU competition law. The court declined to determine which amount of the fine pertained specifically to these elements, overturning the entire amount. It will be up to the Commission to decide whether to pursue a further appeal to re-instate other elements of the fine.
