Neil Hughes
Apple partner Intel attempted to appeal a $1.44 billion fine from the European Union for unfair business practices, but the chipmaker lost that bid on Thursday when a court determined that the record fine would stand.
The European Commission, which is the legislative arm of the EU, originally handed down its decision against Intel in 2009. Intel hoped it could reverse the ruling and perhaps lessen its fine, but according to Reuters Europe's second highest court found that the regulators were within their rights to hit the company with a 1.06-billion-euro loss.
The original 2009 decision found that Intel used anticompetitive practices against rival AMD. In order to keep its dominant position in the PC market, Intel gave rebates to Windows partners including Dell and HP, and the chipmaker also paid at least one retail chain to stock only computers running on Intel chips.
The European Union's $1.44 billion fine is in response to what it found to be anticompetitive practices by Intel.
In addition to running in most Windows PCs, Intel also makes all of the processors found in Apple's current Mac lineup.
The commission arrived at the amount for its fine by making it equal to 4.15 percent of Intel's 2008 turnover. The company had faced a possible maximum of 10 percent.
The decision to uphold Intel's fine from the organization comes as the European Commission has announced that it has set its sights on Apple, formally declaring an investigation into the company's use of Ireland as a tax shelter. The EU has questioned whether Apple is paying its fair share of taxes in Europe, and plans to examine individual rulings issued by Irish tax authorities regarding taxation of Apple's Ireland-based companies: Apple Sales International and Apple Operations Europe.
Ireland is known for having tax laws that are beneficial to multinational corporations, allowing them to see effective tax rates of less than 2 percent by moving their profits to affiliate corporations in the country. Other tech companies known for utilizing Ireland's laws are Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon.
After the investigation into Apple was announced, the company responded this week and denied dodging EU tax laws or receiving special treatment from Irish authorities. The iPhone maker said it "pays every euro of every tax" that it owes.
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35 Comments
Wow. That's going to sting a bit. Add that to whatever large fraction of this amount already spent litigating. I think it's great there are laws for capitalists. They don't have to like the laws but they can't feign ignorance of them. Intel's culture isn't going to change. They've defined "marketing" on their own. What they call sales strategies or incentives others call manipulation and coersion (threats).
That is a excessive fine. Intel should increase the prices of their chips in the EU to cover it.
Yep. The EU is incapable of making a climate favorable to tech companies so they will "fine" companies based in countries that create a good environment to succeed. That said, paying the retailer to stock only Intel based computers was just wrong.
The number 1.44 seems familiar!
[quote name="Steven N." url="/t/180624/as-eu-launches-probe-into-apples-taxes-intel-slapped-with-record-1-4b-anti-competition-fine#post_2549570"]Yep. The EU is incapable of making a climate favorable to tech companies so they will "fine" companies based in countries that create a good environment to succeed. That said, paying the retailer to stock only Intel based computers was just wrong.[/quote]so are you saying even though Intel was doing something wrong it is wrong for the EU to fine them for doing wrong?