Intel’s $1.2B EU Fine Appeal To Be Decided This Month

Intel’s epic fight against a record €1.06 billion (US$1.2 billion) antitrust fine will get closer to its final stretch when European Union judges will issue their ruling on the chip giant’s request to have the case completely reexamined.

The EU General Court will rule on the case on January 26, according to its updated diary on Monday, January 3, reported Bloomberg Law. The judgment could be appealed one more time to the bloc’s top court.

Last year Intel got another chance to challenge a fine worth US$1.2 billion that was levied by the European Union’s antitrust regulators more than 10 years ago for anti-competitive behavior against rival AMD.

Related: Intel Says EU Antitrust Decision Is Flawed

The European Commission fined Intel €1.06 billion in 2009 for giving what the regulatory body stated were illegal rebates to OEMs Acer, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, and NEC as well as German retail group Media Saturn Holdings on the condition that they buy most of their processors from Intel. That, the European Commission stated, effectively blocked AMD from competing.

The move by the Court of Justice of the European Union raises the prospect that the €1.06 billion fine on Intel in 2009, equivalent to €$1.26 billion at current exchange rates, could be reduced or scrapped entirely. The penalty — at the time the largest of its kind — was upheld by a lower court in 2014 and is likely to be the subject of legal battles for years.

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