America News Agency

In its final ruling issued on Thursday, the European Court annulled the 1.06 billion euro fine and partially dismissed allegations of anti-competitive conduct.

However, this ruling by the EU's highest court is not the final word in the dispute that has lasted over two decades. Intel filed a new case against the Commission, contesting a separate fine of 376 million euros based on elements of the 2009 decision upheld by judges.

The story began 24 years ago when a rival chip manufacturer filed a complaint with the EU's competition authorities, which eventually led to an investigation in 2004. Five years later, in 2009, the Commission concluded that Intel had abused its market dominance and imposed a record fine of 1.06 billion euros.

The Commission claimed that Intel, the world’s largest chip manufacturer at the time, abused its position by offering "secret rebates" to computer manufacturers, including Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Lenovo, on the condition that they exclusively purchased Intel CPUs.