Intel's Fight Against $1.2B EU Antitrust Fine Bolstered by Court Advisor

Advocate General Laila Medina criticizes the European Commission's arguments, calling their analysis incomplete and lacking a clear legal standard for anticompetitive effects.

• Intel's fight against a $1.2 billion EU antitrust fine has been bolstered by an advisor to Europe’s General Court, who criticized the legal logic behind the fine.
• The fine was originally imposed by the European Commission in 2009 over rebates awarded to major computer makers, including Dell, HP, and Lenovo, in exchange for prioritizing Intel's CPUs over AMD’s.
• The General Court dismissed Intel's attempt to escape the fine in 2014, but a subsequent appeal to the European Court of Justice saw the case sent back to the General Court for reconsideration in 2017.
• In 2022, the General Court called the Commission’s analysis incomplete and argued it failed to establish a legal standard that the rebates were likely to have anticompetitive effects.
• The Commission launched an appeal of their own, but Court of Justice advocate general Laila Medina took issue with some of the arguments raised by the Commission in its latest attempt to hold Intel accountable.

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