ECJ to issue landmark Intel judgment

The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) will rule whether Intel offered illegal rebates to rivals for buying their computer chips.

The Intel judgment could affect EU antitrust regulators’ cases against Qualcomm and Alphabet’s Google.
Reuters

The Intel judgment could affect EU antitrust regulators’ cases against Qualcomm and Alphabet’s Google.

Europe’s top court will rule on Wednesday whether US chipmaker Intel offered illegal rebates to squeeze out rivals in a judgment that could affect EU antitrust regulators’ cases against Qualcomm and Alphabet’s Google.

The ruling by the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) could also provide more clarity on whether rebates are anti-competitive by nature or whether enforcers need to prove the anti-competitive effect.

The European Commission in a 2009 decision said that Intel tried to thwart rival Advanced Micro Devices by giving rebates to PC makers Dell, Hewlett Packard, NEC and Lenovo for buying most of their computer chips from the company.

It handed down a $1.3 billion fine, a record that was subsequently eclipsed by the $2.86 billion fine levied on Google in June this year.

A lower court upheld the EU competition authority’s decision in 2014, but last year an ECJ court adviser backed Intel’s arguments.

An adverse ruling for the Commission on Wednesday could result in a radical review of ongoing cases, said Andrew Ward, a partner at Madrid-based law firm Cuatrecasas.

“A loss in such a high-profile case would be embarrassing (for the regulator),” he said, adding that it might mean that long-established theories and processes would need to be reassessed."

“Losing against Intel would clearly be a blow to the Commission and a confidence boost for Google, since on the face of it the theory of harm is much more established in the Intel case.”

Google has come under fire from the EU over its Android smartphone operating system and online search advertising.

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