After winning an appeal on an antitrust fine, Intel wants payback.
US chipmaker Intel filed a claim for €593 million euros ($624 million) in interest from the European Commission, according to reporting in Reuters. The claim comes five months after the company convinced Europe’s second-top court to scrap a €1.06 billion EU antitrust fine. Reuters says the claim was documented in an EU filing on Monday.
Europe’s top court paved the way for such damage demands last year, in a landmark ruling which ordered the European Commission to pay default interest on reimbursed fines in annulled antitrust cases. Judges said late payment of interest will itself incur interest as well.
The EU General Court will force European Commission to pay
The Commission returned $1.2 billion to Intel after its court defeat in January this year. Intel said the European Commission had refused to reimburse the default interest it owed the company. Intel based its damage claim on an interest rate equivalent to the European Central Bank’s refinancing rate.
Tip: EU General Court frees Qualcomm from $1.05 billion antitrust fine