Asian Tech Press (Sep 9) -- Qualcomm won a $1 billion antitrust appeal against the European Union on Friday, ending a four-year dispute.

The European Commission, the EU's antitrust regulator, confirmed Friday that it will not appeal a court ruling that annulled a €997 million ($1 billion) fine against Qualcomm.

The case began in 2018, when the European Commission announced a €997 million antitrust fine against Qualcomm. And the reason was that Qualcomm had paid Apple a huge amount of money to use only its chips, thus shutting out competitors such as Intel Corp.

The European Commission said at the time that such anti-competitive practices by Qualcomm occurred from 2011 to 2016. During the period, Qualcomm paid Apple billions of dollars to use its chips in all iPhones and iPads.

But in June, Europe's second-highest court, the General Court, rejected the European Commission's ruling, saying that the €997 million fine was invalid.

The EU's antitrust regulator has the right to appeal the decision of the General Court to the supreme court of the European Union, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

However, the European Commission said Friday that it will not appeal the decision of the General Court.