Intel is demanding €593 million in interest on the overturned €1.05 billion fine (opens in new tab) It received back in 2009 from the European Commission. The antitrust ruling was overturned earlier this year, and Intel has appealed to the EU Court of Justice to claim damages and interest on the fine. In fact, Intel is reclaiming almost half of that original penalty, based on the European Central Bank’s refinancing rates.
In case you need a reminder of all of this, Intel has allegedly engaged in anti-competitive practices where it offered conditional rebates to key OEMs like Dell, HP and Lenovo, making it difficult for rivals (read AMD or ARM if you prefer , but really AMD) to compete with their own CPUs.
The European Commission concluded in 2009 that Intel did indeed behave as it did between October 2002 and December 2007, and fined it one of the heaviest at the time, a whopping €1.05 billion.
Intel unsuccessfully appealed the decision in 2012, but took the case to the European Court of Justice in 2014, which remanded it back to the General Court in 2017. The case went back and forth (opens in new tab) since. In January this year, the court sided with Intel, saying that the European Commission’s analysis was incomplete and that it had failed to establish a legal standard that the discounts were anti-competitive at the heart of the matter.
The timing is interesting as this whole debacle is not over, as the European Commission announced back in April that it would appeal the court’s recent decision. Intel’s demands are unlikely to be heard until this appeal is heard, but when you talk about interest payments, it’s clear that you want a resolution to the whole matter. It has also asked the court to levy additional interest on late payments of those fees. Many Thanks, The registry (opens in new tab).
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