Icera bites back from beyond the grave
- Autor:Ella Cai
- Solte em:2017-07-18
Qualcomm has lost its appeal against a fine imposed on it by the EU for failing to produce information in an anti-trust case involving the UK wireless start-up Icera.
Qualcomm now faces paying $665,000 a day for as long as it takes it to come up with the information required.
Qualcomm’s excuse for not providing the information was that it would cost €3 million to do so.
Court President Marc Jaeger rejected this saying” “The applicant does not claim that its financial viability would be at risk or that its market share could be affected substantially. Furthermore, it does not give any explanation as to why it would be impossible to seek compensation for the alleged financial costs it would suffer by answering the questions.”
Qualcomm has also been charged by the EU with making illegal payments to a major customer in return for it being its only supplier of hand-set chip-sets since 2011. For that the fine could could be up to $2.3 billion.
The EU has also paused its investigation into the $47 billion Qualcomm-NXP takeover because Qualcomm has failed to comply with another information request.
Icera was sold to Nvidia in 2011 for $367 million – $100 million more than it raised in equity funding – after nine years of existence.
Qualcomm was found by the EU to have used anti-competitive methods to squeeze Icera out of the wireless chip market.
Qualcomm was found by the EU to have used anti-competitive methods to squeeze Icera out of the wireless chip market.
Qualcomm now faces paying $665,000 a day for as long as it takes it to come up with the information required.
Qualcomm’s excuse for not providing the information was that it would cost €3 million to do so.
Court President Marc Jaeger rejected this saying” “The applicant does not claim that its financial viability would be at risk or that its market share could be affected substantially. Furthermore, it does not give any explanation as to why it would be impossible to seek compensation for the alleged financial costs it would suffer by answering the questions.”
Qualcomm has also been charged by the EU with making illegal payments to a major customer in return for it being its only supplier of hand-set chip-sets since 2011. For that the fine could could be up to $2.3 billion.
The EU has also paused its investigation into the $47 billion Qualcomm-NXP takeover because Qualcomm has failed to comply with another information request.
