[JURIST] Computer chip maker Intel Corp. [corporate website] on Wednesday filed an appeal with the European Court of First Instance [official website] challenging a May European Commission (EC) [official website] ruling fining Intel €1.06 billion [JURIST] for violating European Union antitrust laws. The EC ruled that Intel violated the laws [Article 82 backgrounder] by giving computer companies rebates to purchase nearly all of their supplies from Intel and paying companies not to use products made by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) [corporate website], Intel's main competitor. The appeal has not been made public, but Intel spokesperson Chuck Mulloy said that one of the arguments was that the fine is excessive [San Jose Mercury News report] and in violation of European human rights law. The court will likely issue a summary of the appeal [WSJ report] in September.

Intel has faced numerous antitrust suits [JURIST news archive]. Last June, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) [official website] opened a probe against Intel [JURIST report] for anti-competitive behavior. Last year, the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) [official website] fined Intel nearly $26 million [JURIST report] after a KFTC probe [JURIST report] found that the company had engaged in anti-competitive practices. The state of New York opened an antitrust probe [JURIST report] into Intel's actions and AMD also filed [JURIST report] a civil suit [complaint, PDF; Intel response] against the company last year.