European Union: Issued EGC ruling in lawsuit challenging European Commission decision relating to abuse of dominant position of Qualcomm (Qualcomm v Commission) (T-671/19)

On 18 September 2024, the European General Court issued a ruling in the lawsuit relating to the Commission's investigatory finding regarding Qualcomm's abuse of a dominant position. The Court largely confirmed the Commission's finding, rejecting most of Qualcomm's pleas, though partly granting the plea that the Commission had erred in its calculation of the fine. As a result, the Court set the fine at EUR 238.7 million, down from the Commission's original EUR 242 million fine. In its decision as part of the original investigation in July 2019, the European Commission concluded that the company abused its dominant position in the global market for slim and integrated baseband chipsets compliant with the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System standard. Between 2009 and 2011, Qualcomm supplied chipsets to key customers, Huawei and ZTE at a reduced cost, with the intent to eliminate its main competitor, Icera. Qualcomm contested the Commission's decision, raising fifteen legal pleas, including procedural irregularities, excessive investigation duration, errors in market definition and price-cost benchmarks, and a failure to provide sufficient reasoning. The Court rejected most of Qualcomm's arguments but upheld an objection related to the calculation of the fine, finding that the Commission had deviated from its 2006 guidelines without justification.