Visitors are seen by a booth of Qualcomm Inc at the China International Big Data Industry Expo in Guiyang, Guizhou province, China May 27, 2018. Picture taken May 27, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer
June 4, 2018
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm <QCOM.O> has asked Europe’s second-highest court to throw out a 997 million euro ($1.2 billion) fine levied by European Union antitrust regulators, citing numerous errors in the EU decision.
The European Commission penalized the company in January for paying Apple <AAPL.O> to use only its chips in its iPhones and iPads, giving rival Intel <INTC.O> no chance of getting a share of the market.
The EU competition enforcer’s ruling was marked by errors in procedures and law, Qualcomm said in its appeal to the Luxembourg-based General Court, according to a filing in the Commission’s Official Journal on Monday.
Judges typically take several years to rule on such cases.
Qualcomm is also involved in another EU antitrust case where it has been accused of selling chipsets below cost to drive out British phone software maker Icera, which is now a unit of Nvidia Corp <NVDA.O>.
The appeal is Qualcomm/Commission T-235/18.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee. Editing by Jane Merriman)
