Qualcomm's bid to overturn a European Union antitrust penalty was largely unsuccessful as the EU's General Court upheld most of the 242 million euro fine imposed on the technology company in 2019. The court dismissed Qualcomm's appeal, which accused the company of engaging in 'predatory pricing' to eliminate a competitor from the market.
The European Commission had previously found that Qualcomm abused its dominant position in 3G baseband chipsets by selling them below production costs to drive startup Icera out of the market. Despite Qualcomm's arguments, the court rejected them all except for the claim that the commission did not adhere to guidelines when calculating the fine. As a result, the fine was slightly reduced to 238.7 million euros.
In a separate case, the European Commission had fined Qualcomm $1.23 billion for allegedly bribing Apple to stifle competition. However, the General Court overturned this decision in 2022 following Qualcomm's appeal.