European Supreme Court affirms competition authority’s position in dispute with Qualcomm

Yesterday it became known that Qualcomm failed to evade a request for data from EU antitrust regulators. The Supreme Court of Europe (CJEU) has upheld the regulators’ right to receive and examine them. This decision was made in the framework of a case in which the manufacturer has already been fined 242 million euros.

The source said the ruling will strengthen the position of the European Commission in other antitrust investigations.

In a confrontation with the European Commission, Qualcomm has been fined twice over the past three years for a total of 1.2 billion euros. The company is accused of abusing its dominant market position to oppose competitors, including Intel.

In this case, Qualcomm’s claims against the EU Fair Competition Authority refer to 2017. The company was then asked to provide additional information on a case in which it was accused of “predatory pricing” between 2009 and 2011 in order to suppress the British phone software maker Icera, which was subsequently acquired by Nvidia. Qualcomm said the request was outside the scope of an investigation. She filed a lawsuit in the General Court, the second highest in Europe, but lost in 2019. After that, the company filed an appeal with the CJEU, but the court, as already mentioned, upheld the EU antimonopoly authority.

“Taking into account the broad investigative powers granted to the Commission by Resolution No. 1/2003, the Commission has the right to decide whether a specific piece of information is needed to reveal a violation of competition rules,” the decision says.

Qualcomm is being examined in another case, in which EU law enforcement authorities are trying to determine whether the company violated the rules of fair competition by using its position in the 5G modem market.