News EU court annuls $1.2 billion fine against Intel in antitrust case.

[tamz_msc]

Intel scores major win as court scraps $1.2 bln EU antitrust fine

Intel on Wednesday won its fight against a 1.06-billion-euro ($1.2 billion) EU antitrust fine that the U.S. chipmaker was handed 12 years ago for stifling a rival, in a major setback for EU antitrust regulators.

www.reuters.com

Looks like the European Commission didn't investigate properly.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Wow, maybe now they'll have enough cash on hand to pay for some driver developers for their Xe-arch dGPUs... LOL.

 

[Hitman928]

From what I read, the court upheld the fine in the first appeal, around 7 years ago, but then the EU "Supreme Court" told them to look at it again in 2017. Ultimately the court said that the prosecutor failed to do a proper economic impact of Intel's shady programs so they didn't have enough legal justification for the fine. The EU council has not announced if they plan to push this any further or let this verdict stand.

 

[soresu]

Intel scores major win as court scraps $1.2 bln EU antitrust fine

Intel on Wednesday won its fight against a 1.06-billion-euro ($1.2 billion) EU antitrust fine that the U.S. chipmaker was handed 12 years ago for stifling a rival, in a major setback for EU antitrust regulators.

www.reuters.com

Looks like the European Commission didn't investigate properly.

Looks more like they are compromising principles to get Intel fabs built in Europe.

The close proximity in time to the flailing EU chipmaking efforts doesn't seem like much of a coincidence to me.

 

[Panino Manino]

Looks like the European Commission didn't investigate properly.

"You did committed crimes, sure without a doubt, but as we can't the precise about how much EXACTLY the victim lost as a consequence of your crimes would be unjust to force you to pay anything to compensate for the damages."

This is what happened.
Evil never rests.

 

[Mopetar]

After this long I can't imagine the lawyer bill is that much cheaper. I can see something this complex and long running to easily be in the tens of millions of dollars in terms of expense.

 

[TheELF]

After this long I can't imagine the lawyer bill is that much cheaper. I can see something this complex and long running to easily be in the tens of millions of dollars in terms of expense.

In europe all costs go to the losing party.

CURIA - Documents

curia.europa.eu

Under Article 134 of the Rules of Procedure, the unsuccessful party is to be ordered to pay the costs if they have been applied for in the successful party’s pleadings. Where there is more than one unsuccessful party, the Court is to decide how the costs are to be shared. Where each party succeeds on some and fails on other heads, the parties are to bear their own costs. However, if it appears justified in the circumstances of the case, the Court may order that one party, in addition to bearing its own costs, pay a proportion of the costs of the other party.

 

[Hitman928]

In europe all costs go to the losing party.

CURIA - Documents

curia.europa.eu

I'm not familiar with EU law, but based upon the quoted article it seems like Intel would have to ask for their costs to be paid for and the court agrees, which I haven't seen any mention of this being the case.

if they have been applied for in the successful party’s pleadings.

 

[Saylick]

"You did committed crimes, sure without a doubt, but as we can't the precise about how much EXACTLY the victim lost as a consequence of your crimes would be unjust to force you to pay anything to compensate for the damages."

This is what happened.
Evil never rests.

EU Court be like: "Ehhh, AMD looks to be in good shape today. I mean, just look at the stock price over the last 5 years. It doesn't look like there was long term damage to me! Fine waived!"

 

[Mopetar]

In europe all costs go to the losing party.

CURIA - Documents

curia.europa.eu

I'm not an expert on EU law by any means, but I'm not sure if those rules necessarily apply to this case. Once the government itself is involved the rules for everyone else tend not to apply.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Looks more like they are compromising principles to get Intel fabs built in Europe.

Which fabs has Intel shown interest in building in Europe?

 

[soresu]

Which fabs has Intel shown interest in building in Europe?

I'm speaking in general terms, though I'm pretty sure that the EU have feelers out to all semicon manufacturing companies trying to regain the piece of the pie that they once held and have since lost.

Edit: A quick Google search drummed up this article:

Intel's “big, honking chip fab” planned for Europe to be world’s most advanced | Fortune

Decision over $95 billion project may come this year, but EU focus means Brexit Britain is out of the running.

fortune.com

 

[DrMrLordX]

Edit: A quick Google search drummed up this article:

Curious. One wonders how many different governments Intel can pander to at once?

 

[soresu]

Curious. One wonders how many different governments Intel can pander to at once?

No different than what they do in the US pandering to different state govmts for the best deal I'd expect.

I'd assume some countries would be more suitable than others, especially when you consider the water shortage problem in California which has to be affecting new water dependent business investment there.

 

[DrMrLordX]

No different than what they do in the US pandering to different state govmts for the best deal I'd expect.

That goes into the toilet when jingoism/"bring jobs back to 'Murica!" gets trotted out though. We'll see if any of the Feds notice.