EU Court of Justice backs annulment of EUR 1.06B antitrust fine against Intel

The EU Court of Justice announced that it has upheld the annulment by the General Court of the Commission’s decision finding an abuse of a dominant position on the part of Intel (INTC) and imposing a fine of EUR 1.06B on Intel. In May 2009, the Commission imposed 1 a fine of EUR 1.06 billion on Intel, a microprocessor manufacturer established in the United States. The Commission complained that Intel had abused its dominant position on the market for x86 microprocessors by granting, inter alia, loyalty rebates to its customers and to a desktop computer distributor. In 2014, the General Court dismissed in its entirety Intel’s action against that Commission decision. 2 On the appeal brought by Intel, the Court of Justice 3 set aside that judgment and referred the case back to the General Court. Hearing the case referred back to it, the General Court annulled the Commission’s decision in part and annulled the fine of EUR 1.06 billion in its entirety. The Commission brought an appeal against the General Court’s 2022 judgment. In its judgment, the Court of Justice rejects all of the grounds of appeal raised by the Commission. With regard to the as-efficient-competitor test, the Court of Justice confirms that it is for the General Court to examine any argument that is intended to call into question the Commission’s assessments and that is capable of invalidating the conclusions reached by the Commission at the end of that test.