By Tom Fairless
BRUSSELS--The European Union's second-highest court on Thursday
upheld a record EUR1.06 billion ($1.43 billion) fine against Intel
Corp. for abusing its dominant position in the microprocessor
market.
The Luxembourg-based General Court of the EU threw out "in its
entirety" an appeal by the U.S.-based chip maker, which had argued
that a 2009 decision by EU competition authorities to issue the
biggest ever antitrust fine against a single company was based on
mistakes and ignored evidence.
An investigation by the European Commission, the EU's central
antitrust authority, had concluded that Intel sought to cut rival
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. out of the market by offering rebates
to computer makers for using its chips.
In its ruling, the court said rebates granted by Intel to Dell,
Hewlett-Packard Co., NEC Corp of Japan and Lenovo were "capable of
restricting competition and foreclosing competitors from the
market."
The Commission "showed to the requisite legal standard the
existence of the exclusivity rebates and the naked restrictions at
issue in its decision," and demonstrated that Intel attempted to
conceal the anti-competitive nature of its practices, the court
said.
It also rejected Intel's argument that the scale of the fine was
disproportionate.
"The fine is equivalent to 4.15% of Intel's annual turnover,
which is well below the 10% ceiling provided for," the court
said.
Corrections & Amplifications
The General Court of the EU threw out the appeal by Intel. An
earlier version of this story stated that the ruling was made by
the European Court of Justice.
Write to Tom Fairless at tom.fairless@wsj.com
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