Qualcomm Win Confirmed as EU Regulators Won't Appeal Court Ruling Against $1 Billion Fine

Europe's General Court had found procedural irregularities in the regulator's handling of the case that negatively affected Qualcomm's rights of defence.

Written by David Delima | Updated: 9 September 2022 20:48 IST

Qualcomm Win Confirmed as EU Regulators Won't Appeal Court Ruling Against $1 Billion Fine

Photo Credit: Reuters

Qualcomm was accused of attempting to block rival chipmakers like Intel

Highlights

Qualcomm's win against the European Commission will not be appealed
The regulator had accused the chipmaker of exclusivity payments to Apple
Qualcomm's exclusivity payments allegedly continued until 2016

Qualcomm's win against antitrust regulators in Europe was confirmed on Friday, after the latter reportedly stated that they would not appeal a court ruling in favour of the chip designer. EU regulators had accused Qualcomm in 2018 of paying billions of dollars to Apple from 2011 to 2016, to block out rivals like Intel. A European court had previously criticised the competition watchdog over procedural irregularities, while ruling against the EUR 997 million (roughly Rs. 8,000 crore) fine against Qualcomm.

According to a report by Reuters, the European Commission announced on Friday that it will not appeal the General Court's decision in June to scrap its EUR 997 million (roughly Rs. 8,000 crore) fine against chipmaker Qualcomm. The regulator has reportedly decided to scrap the deal over the difficulty of winning over the European Court of Justice.

A spokesperson confirmed the development to Reuters, stating: "The Commission has carefully studied the judgment of the General Court in the Qualcomm [exclusivity payments] case and decided not to appeal to the Court of Justice."

Back in June, the General Court ruled against the EU regulator's fine on the chipmaker, while criticising 'procedural irregularities' on its part, which affected the chipmaker's right of defence in court, as per the report.

The case dates to a 2018 decision in which the European Commission accused Qualcomm of paying billions of dollars to Apple from 2011 to 2016, to block out rival chipmakers like Intel and ensure that the Cupertino company uses its chips in iPhone and iPad models. The General Court ruled against the EUR 997 million (roughly Rs. 8,000 crore) in June.

Apple unveiled eight new products at its September ‘Far Out' event. Which ones will float — and which will sink? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Qualcomm, EU, European Comission, Antitrust, Regulation

David Delima

Email David Delima

As a writer on technology with Gadgets 360, David Delima is interested in open-source technology, cybersecurity, consumer privacy, and loves to read and write about how the Internet works. David can be contacted via email at DavidD@ndtv.com, on Twitter at @DxDavey, and Mastodon at mstdn.social/@delima. More