Major chipmaker Intel has lost their appeal of a massive 1.06 billion euro fine handed down by the European Union five years ago.
The European Union's second-highest court says previous regulators did not act "too harshly," and the fine will stand.
In 2009, the European Commission ruled that Intel gave rebates to PC OEMs HP, NEC, Dell and Lenovo for buying most of their processors from Intel rather than rival AMD, and also that the chipmaker paid a major German retail chain to only buy Intel chips.
"The Commission demonstrated to the requisite legal standard that Intel attempted to conceal the anti-competitive nature of its practices and implemented a long term comprehensive strategy to foreclose AMD from the strategically most important sales channels," the court said in a 297-page decision.
The fine was equivalent of 4.15 percent of Intel's revenue for the year of 2008, and could have been as high as 10 percent. "The General Court considers that none of the arguments raised by Intel supports the conclusion that the fine imposed is disproportionate. On the contrary, it must be considered that that fine is appropriate in the light of the facts of the case," the judges added.
Intel has not decided on whether it will appeal to the Court of Justice of the EU on points of law.
Source:
Reuters
In 2009, the European Commission ruled that Intel gave rebates to PC OEMs HP, NEC, Dell and Lenovo for buying most of their processors from Intel rather than rival AMD, and also that the chipmaker paid a major German retail chain to only buy Intel chips.
"The Commission demonstrated to the requisite legal standard that Intel attempted to conceal the anti-competitive nature of its practices and implemented a long term comprehensive strategy to foreclose AMD from the strategically most important sales channels," the court said in a 297-page decision.
The fine was equivalent of 4.15 percent of Intel's revenue for the year of 2008, and could have been as high as 10 percent. "The General Court considers that none of the arguments raised by Intel supports the conclusion that the fine imposed is disproportionate. On the contrary, it must be considered that that fine is appropriate in the light of the facts of the case," the judges added.
Intel has not decided on whether it will appeal to the Court of Justice of the EU on points of law.
Source:
Reuters
