US chipmaker Qualcomm returned to Europe’s second-top court docket on Monday looking for to overturn a EUR 242 million ($258.4 million or roughly Rs. 2,125 crore) EU antitrust high-quality, a yr after it satisfied the identical court docket to throw out a a lot larger penalty in one other antitrust case.
The European Commission slapped the high-quality on Qualcomm in 2019 for promoting its chipsets beneath price between 2009 and 2011, in a apply referred to as predatory pricing, to stymie British telephone software program maker Icera, now a part of Nvidia.
The firm final yr secured a serious win because it satisfied the General Court to scrap a EUR 997 million (roughly Rs. 8,757 crore) EU antitrust high-quality in one other case associated to funds made to Apple to use solely its chips in all its iPhone and iPad fashions in order to block out rivals reminiscent of Intel.
Qualcomm lawyer Miguel Rato criticised the Commission’s investigations towards the corporate on the primary day of the three-day listening to.
“This is the second instalment of the Commission’s campaign against Qualcomm. The first was the exclusivity decision squashed by the Court,” he instructed the General Court.
He stated the 3G baseband chipsets singled out in the case accounted for simply 0.7 p.c of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) market and thus it was not doable for Qualcomm to shut out rivals from the chipset market.
“What price should Qualcomm have charged for each chipset and each quarter to allow it to pass the price cost test?” Rato stated.
Qualcomm’s actions confirmed it was decided to remove a rival earlier than it might pose a aggressive risk, Commission lawyer Carlos Urraca Caviedes instructed the court docket.
“Icera was about to gain a solid foothold in the market segment which was strategically important for future growth. Qualcomm feared that if it did not take action, Icera would grow to expand and become a formidable rival,” he stated.
The court docket will rule in the approaching months. The case is T-671/19 Qualcomm v Commission.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
