EU ANTI-TRUST regulators relied on “profoundly inadequate” evidence in their case against Intel, the US chipmaker said in court yesterday in a bid to quash a record €1.06 billion fine.
The European Commission penalised the world’s number one chipmaker three years ago for hindering arch-rival Advanced Micro Devices after an eight-year investigation.
The fine, which represented 4.15 per cent of Intel’s 2008 turnover versus a possible maximum of 10 per cent, was the biggest ever levied on a company.
A panel of five judges at the General Court in Luxembourg, Europe’s second highest, will hear arguments from both the EU watchdog and Intel during the four-day hearing, in which the company wants its conviction and fine thrown out or reduced.
The commission did not have sufficient evidence of any wrongdoing by Intel and relied too much on subjective comments by the company’s customers, Intel’s lawyer Nicholas Green told the court. “The quality of evidence relied on by the commission is profoundly inadequate. The analysis is hopelessly and irretrievably defective,” he said. – (Reuters)
