You may remember the EU's historical May 13th 2009 decision to slap Intel with a ?1.06 billion fine for antitrust practices. Well eight years later, that odyssey isn't over just yet. The ECj (European Court of Justice), the European Union's supreme court, ruled today for a retrial of Intel's appeal against the ?1.06 billion antitrust fine. The argument: the European Commission's accusations and Intel's counter-arguments weren't "delved enough" so as to arrive at the fine's decision. Specifically, the ECJ states that "The General Court was required to examine all of Intel's arguments ? which the General Court failed to do (...)".
This decision pretty much guarantees more years of respite for Intel towards payment of the imposed fine, originally levied upon the company in 2009. It also shakes the European justice system's credibility, in the sense that a historical fine decision, which should be the EU's poster-case for antitrust violations and a free, just market, were based on incomplete information and ignorant of some of the counter-arguments raised by the blue giant. Specifically, the title of the ECj's press-release states that "The case is referred back to the General Court in order for it to examine the arguments put forward by Intel concerning the capacity of the rebates at issue to restrict competition."
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