The Empires Strike Back: Intel, Boeing Score Rare Wins Against EU Antitrust Czar

Europe's antitrust czar, the scourge of U.S. corporations, has a sculpture of a hand in her Brussels office, its middle finger extended out. On Wednesday, the bird was on the other hand.

In the latest feud between U.S.-based corporations and overseas regulators, the European Union's top court ordered a review of a $1.26 billion fine against Intel Corporation INTC.

The move was a big victory for Intel and a rare, perhaps precedent-setting setback for Margrethe Vestager, the EU commissioner for competition. Vestager’s team has been far more bullish in imposing antitrust fines and back-taxes penalties than her American counterparts.

The EU in 2009 fined Intel 1.06 billion euros ($1.26 billion), saying the computer chip maker used illegal sales tactics to keep the smaller Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMD out of the European chip market.

The European Court of Justice on Wednesday sent the case back to the lower General Court so it can examine more arguments from Intel, which contended EU regulators erred in levying the fine for purported monopoly abuse.

Vestager, a former Danish finance minister, argued that Intel gave rebates to some computer manufacturers for buying all or almost all their x86 computer processing units and paid them to delay the launch of computers based on AMD chips.

See Also: A Look Into The Anti-Trust Environment Surrounding Internet Giants

Here’s a look at some similar skirmishes Vestager has had.

Dogfight!

On Monday, the World Trade Organization reversed on appeal a ruling that Boeing BA received some state aid to help build its newest aircraft, the 777X.

Last year, the WTO backed an EU complaint that Boeing got tax breaks for a production facility in Washington state.

"The WTO has rejected yet another of the baseless claims the EU has made as it attempts to divert attention from the $22 billion of subsidies European governments have provided to Airbus and that the WTO has found to be illegal," Boeing general counsel J. Michael Luttig said in a statement.

Boeing And Airbus still have a raft of claims and counter-claims pending against each other.

Google

In June, the EU slapped Alphabet Inc GOOGL with a $2.7 billion antitrust fine for unfairly favoring some of its own services over those of rivals.

Google had argued its ads help smaller European merchants compete directly with Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and eBay Inc EBAY.

Before the Intel case came down, Vestager said Tuesday that Google was tweaking its shopping ads and was moving “in the right direction” to avoid further fines.

Amazon

Last May, Amazon and the EU settled an unfair competition case with Amazon over the way it markets its e-books.

Vestager contended that Amazon's agreements with publishers shut out competitors trying to get into the e-book business.

“Amazon used certain clauses in its agreements with publishers, which may have made it more difficult for other e-book platforms to innovate and compete effectively with Amazon,” she said in a press release.

Apple

In another move by Vestager, the EU Commission socked Apple Inc. AAPL with a $15.5 billion bill for back taxes allegedly owed to Ireland, even though Ireland said it didn’t want the money. Both Apple and Ireland are appealing.

Starbucks

Like Apple, Starbucks Corporation SBUX is currently appealing an EU Commission decision holding it liable for about $35.8 million in back taxes in the Netherlands.

Vestager, in an exhaustive profile in Foreign Policy, said she takes charges of anti-Americanism seriously.

“The casework has to be objective and fact-based because, of course, our decisions may have to hold up in court,” she said.