Europe’s top court rules for Intel in long-running antitrust case

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU Court of Justice, Europe’s top court, ruled in favour of Intel (NASDAQ:), ending a nearly two decade-long fight between the U.S. chipmaker and EU regulators who had said it had tried to thwart a rival.

The European Commission had fined Intel for giving rebates to computer makers Dell (NYSE:), Hewlett-Packard Co, NEC and Lenovo, for buying most of their chips from Intel, which regulators said was an attempt to block Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:).

Regulators generally oppose rebates offered by dominant companies because they fear they may be anticompetitive, while companies say enforcers must prove discounts have anticompetitive effects before companies are sanctioned.

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