A top EU court on Wednesday annulled a nearly one-billion-euro antitrust fine imposed against US chipmaking giant Qualcomm by the European Commission in 2018.
The General Court decided to scrap Brussels' decision "in its entirety" as it "committed a number of irregularities" when it put the case together, affecting Qualcomm's rights of defence.
It also said it decided to "invalidate the Commission's analysis of the conduct alleged against Qualcomm."
Brussels imposed the 997-million-euro fine, amounting to $1.2 billion at the time, saying the company "abused its market dominance" by paying Apple to use its chips exclusively in iPhones and iPads.
The EU court ruled that the Commission failed to fully respect its obligation to record meetings and conference calls with third parties in the investigation
It added that Qualcomm was not given the "opportunity to be heard" after the Commission modified its objections against the US company.
The Luxembourg-based court also rejected the Commission's case against Qualcomm.
EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in 2018 that Qualcomm had paid billions of dollars to Apple between 2011 and 2016 in order to prevent the iPhone maker from buying chips from rivals.
But the court said that it was apparent from the Commission's decisions that Apple "had had no technical alternative to Qualcomm's LTE chipsets for the majority of its requirements during the period concerned".
"The General Court concludes that the Commission's analysis was not carried out in the light of all the relevant factual circumstances and that it is, therefore, unlawful," it said.
The European Commission can appeal the ruling to the European Court of Justice.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
