ECJ: Intel escapes heavy billion euro fine

Intel has every reason to celebrate. The renowned semiconductor manufacturer was able to score an important success at the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Thanks to the ruling by the highest court in the European Union, the CPU manufacturer escapes a fine of 1.06 billion euros imposed over ten years ago.

Assumed breach of competition

The reason for the high fine was a complaint on the part of the EU competition authority. These saw the economic acting of Intel everything else as competition-conform. Rather, it saw the actions as a clear violation of competition, which above all put Intel’s fiercest competitor at a disadvantage. This was particularly evident between 2002 and 2007. During this period, Intel offered important computer manufacturers like Lenovo, HP and Dell substantial price reductions. AMD simply could not keep up with these. As a result, the majority of PC manufacturers opted for Intel CPUs rather than AMD.

But not only that. On top of that, the huge Media-Saturn group is said to have been influenced. According to the EU competition authorities, Media Markt and Saturn stores are said to have given preferential treatment to Intel-labeled products in exchange for a lot of money. Especially when it came to the display in the stores, it is said that it was mainly Intel computers that customers got to see. If you go back in time, you have to imagine that orders via Amazon & Co. were rather exotic and by no means the rule. The display in the specialized trade was therefore the non-plus-ultra, if you wanted to sell your products.

First appeal went wrong

The current ECJ ruling is a long-term success for Intel. After all, the company already defended itself against the high fine in 2014 and appealed. However, without success. Finally, the appeal was summarily dismissed. Intel was not satisfied with this. The U.S. company appealed to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and filed an appeal without further ado. The hurdles for “waving through” such an appeal at the highest court of the European Union are anything but simple. The judges decided in favor of a review because they discovered legal errors in the European Commission’s actions. In particular, the examination by the Commission had been only half-hearted and insufficient. Accordingly, one can only speak of conjecture here. An anti-competitive effect, as the EU competition authority attested Intel’s action, could not be proven.

Not yet the last word?

The ECJ quite obviously chose the path of least resistance in reaching its verdict. This ultimately suits Intel in a pleasing way. After all, the court decided without further ado that it was no longer possible to determine how extensive the error on the part of the EU authority was. So Intel will not only get a part of the fine, but the 1.06 billion euros in full. However, it is still questionable whether the last word has been spoken in this legal dispute. After all, the EU Commission also still has the option of defending itself against the ruling. The Commission, for its part, would now like to examine whether this could be worthwhile. If this is the case, the whole thing will probably go into the next round.