Qualcomm prevails in antitrust lawsuit, fine reduced by over 1 billion USD

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Last Wednesday, the legal battle between Qualcomm and the EU antitrust regulators finally concluded with Qualcomm emerging victorious. The fine of 997 million euros (1.05 billion USD), imposed by the Director in charge of antitrust affairs at the EU, Margrethe Vestager, four years ago, has also been overturned.

According to the European Commission, the lawsuit, dating back to 2018, revealed that Qualcomm had paid billions of USD to Apple between 2011 and 2016, demanding the company to exclusively use Qualcomm chips in all iPhone and iPad models, thereby preventing chip supply competition from other rivals like Intel.

The General Court has overturned the EU's conclusion and assigned responsibility to the competition enforcement agency, citing 'irregularities in the litigation procedures that affected Qualcomm's legitimate interests.' The EU's competition enforcement agency can still appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) - the highest court in Europe. The European Commission stated that they will carefully study and assess the rulings and their impacts on all parties before making any further decisions.

Earlier in early 2022, Margrethe Vestager also failed to secure the court's approval for imposing a €1.06 billion fine on Intel. Vestager alleged that Intel had 'coerced' its rival company, AMD, 12 years ago, within the scope of issues related to antitrust violations.

According to Reuters

Cover image from Trend

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