Qualcomm lost its bid to block potential late fees for failing to dig up old documents sought by Europe’s anti-trust regulator, which alleges the company engaged in predatory pricing seven years ago that harmed a competitor.
In a ruling July 12, the European Union General Court in Luxembourg denied the San Diego’s company’s request to suspend the case. The ruling could expose Qualcomm to fines of $665,000 a day for failing to provide certain documents — though no penalties have been imposed to date.
The case involves a long-running European Commission probe based on complaints made in 2010 by radio frequency software firm Icera, which is now owned by graphics chip outfit Nvidia.
Icera accused Qualcomm of selling cellular baseband chipsets to two customers below costs, which blocked Icera’s technology from gaining a foothold in the market. The European Commission asked Qualcomm to respond to the charge in July 2010, which the company did.
In late 2015, the commission told Qualcomm that its preliminary investigation found that the company had engaged in predatory pricing. The commission sought additional documents in January 2017 and gave Qualcomm 30 days to respond.
Both sides negotiated extensions until June 30. Qualcomm supplied some information but asked the General Court to either suspend the case, suspend late fees or order the European Commission to pay the costs of gathering old documents.
Qualcomm did not respond to a request for comment on Monday. But in court filings, the company argued it would cost nearly $3.5 million to provide the material.
To answer just the first question on a lengthy European Commission questionnaire regarding the case, Qualcomm claims its finance department would have to rummage through at least 120 boxes stored in a warehouse. Fifty employees and 16 external advisers would have to be involved.
In a written decision, General Court President Marc Jaeger dismissed…