Qualcomm's second antitrust appeal begins today: to overturn the EU's $258 million fine

According to news on the evening of March 13, Beijing time, Qualcomm returned to the European second High Court today, hoping to overturn an antitrust fine of about $258 million imposed by the European Commission. Last year, Qualcomm successfully overturned another EU fine of about $1 billion.

Back in 2019, the European Commission announced an antitrust fine of 242 million euros ($258 million) on Qualcomm for selling its three cellular baseband chipsets to two customers below cost between 2009 and 2011 to force rival Icera out of the market.

In response, Qualcomm subsequently filed an appeal to the European second High Court, the Comprehensive Court of Justice (General Court). Today, the comprehensive court opened to hear the case. Miguel Rato, a Qualcomm lawyer, reprimanded the European Commission's decision at the hearing.

"this is the second fine imposed by the European Commission on Qualcomm," Rato said. the first has been rejected by the court. " Mr Rato also said that what the European Commission called 3G baseband chipsets accounted for only 0.7 per cent of the general mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) market. Therefore, it is impossible for Qualcomm to exclude competitors from the chipset market.

Carlos Urraca Caviedes, a lawyer for the European Commission, said in court that Qualcomm's actions showed that it had decided to eliminate its competitors before they posed a competitive threat.

"Icera is about to gain a foothold in market segments that are strategically important for future growth. Qualcomm is concerned that if no action is taken, Icera will grow and become a strong competitor," Mr Cavides said.

It is expected that the comprehensive court will make a decision in the coming months.

In addition to selling baseband chipsets below cost, the European Commission imposed another antitrust fine of 997 million euros ($1 billion) on Qualcomm because Qualcomm paid Apple a huge fee to use only its chips. thus shutting out competitors such as Intel.

But in June this year, the "Comprehensive Court" overturned the European Commission's ruling, saying that the fine of 997 million euros was invalid. The European Commission also said it would not seek an appeal, ending years of confrontation between the two sides.