What just happened? Intel is demanding that the European Commission competition watchdog hand over $624 million in interest charges following the company's successful appeal against a $1.2 billion antitrust fine earlier this year.
In January, a European court ruled in support of Intel over its appeal of the 1.06 billion Euros ($1.2 billion) fine that the European Commission levied against it in 2009. The case revolved around Intel allegedly paying manufacturers, including Dell, HP, and Lenovo, to favor its processors over AMD's from 2002 to 2007 by giving them special treatment in the form of rebates. The Commission returned the $1.2 billion payment to Intel after its court defeat.
Now, five months after that ruling, Intel has applied to the EU General Court for "payment of compensation and consequential interest for the damage sustained because of the European Commission's refusal to pay Intel default interest."
While the amount Intel is demanding represents more than half the original fine, the company says the claim is based on an interest rate equivalent to the European Central Bank's refinancing rate of 1.25% when the penalty was handed down in May 2009, and this should be increased to 3.5% from August 2009 to February 2022.
Intel isn't going to accept any delays by the Commission, either. It has asked the court to impose additional interest on any late payment of the interest charges.
Reuters notes that Intel is taking advantage of a ruling by Europe's top court last year that ordered the EU executive to pay default interest on reimbursed fines in annulled antitrust cases.
Despite the case raging on for over a decade, it still isn't over. The European Commission is now in the process of appealing the court's decision to overturn the fine.
h/t: The Register