Lawyers have labelled the European Commission’s court defeat against chipmaker Qualcomm as an “extremely disappointing loss” for the competition enforcer that could affect its appetite to crack down on big tech in the future.
The U.S. tech company triumphed against a €997 million fine imposed by EU antitrust regulators for allegedly illegal exclusivity rebates with Apple. Europe’s second-highest court annulled a 2018 decision by the European Commission to impose the near-billion euro fine on Qualcomm for its use of incentive payments to Apple in exchange for exclusive use of its chipsets, “preventing competition on the merits.”
