Intel Kicks Off €1.06bn EU Antitrust Case

Intel has slammed the evidence used against the chip giant in a case that saw it slapped with a record €1.06 billion fine.

The chip maker has launched its appeal against the record penalty, which Intel received three years ago for hindering its chief rival AMD. That followed a mammoth eight-year investigation, as Intel was alleged to have offered customers, including Dell and HP, rebates and special contract clauses to prevent AMD from gaining business.

The fine has gone up to €1.34 billion for economic reasons(interest, inflation and exchange rate changes). It remains the biggest fine levied by the EU against a company.

A four-day hearing is now taking place, involving a panel of five judges at the General Court in Luxembourg, according to Reuters. Both EU and Intel representatives will make their case, as the chip maker seeks to get its fine thrown out or reduced.

‘Profoundly inadequate’ evidence

“The quality of evidence relied on by the Commission is profoundly inadequate. The analysis is hopelessly and irretrievably defective,”  Intel’s lawyer Nicholas Green told the court, the second highest in Europe. “The Commission’s case turns on what customers’ subjective understanding is.”

EU Commission lawyer Nicholas Khan said the kind of rebates Intel was offering could “only be intended to tie customers and put competitors in an unfavourable position”. Khan claimed contracts showed “Intel carefully camouflaged its anticompetitive practices”.

Even if Intel loses in the General Court when a decision is made later this year, it can still take its fight to the EU Court of Justice.

Back in 2009, Intel got backing for its arguments against the European Commission’s decision. European ombudsman, P Nikiforos Diamandouros, said he had found “maladministration” in the case due to the the Commission’s failure to make proper notes on a meeting with computer maker Dell.

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