European Union court largely upholds Qualcomm antitrust penalty in 2019 case but trims fine

LONDON (AP) — Qualcomm lost its bid to get a European Union antitrust penalty thrown out after a top court largely rebuffed the technology company’s arguments in the case involving cellphone chipsets. The European Union’s General Court said Wednesday it was rejecting most of Qualcomm’s appeal against the 242 million euro ($269 million) fine that the bloc’s regulators issued in 2019. That’s when it accused the company of “predatory pricing” to drive a competitor out of the market. The European Commission is the 27-nation bloc’s executive branch and top antitrust enforcer. The court said it was rejecting all of Qualcomm’s arguments except for about how the fine was calculated, and therefore trimmed it to 238.7 million euros.