EU court finds Qualcomm guilty of predatory pricing
The EU"s second highest court confirmed an earlier verdict and found Qualcomm guilty of what is known as predatory pricing. However, the court reduced the fine from €242 million to €238.7 million.
The case concerns Qualcomm"s contract with British software maker Icera, which is now part of Nvidia. Between 2009 and 2011, Qualcomm sold chips below cost. This practice aims to exclude other competitors from the potential deal.
Qualcomm has put forward numerous appeals, including one that claims the Qualcomm-Icera deal accounted for just 0.7% of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System market, making the case quite insignificant. However, the European court only accepted the one that asked for a fine reduction, hence the slight adjustment.
It doesn"t end there, though, as Qualcomm can now appeal to the EU Court of Justice, which is the highest level of the union"s system.
