A European court’s reversal of a landmark $1 billion antitrust penalty against Qualcomm is casting doubt on enforcers’ ability to make antitrust action stick.

The European Commission ruled in 2018 that Qualcomm had violated EU antitrust law by paying Apple to use Qualcomm components, instead of competing products, in iPhones produced between 2011 and 2016.

The EU General Court yesterday entirely annulled the commission’s ruling, saying, among other things, that the commission had failed to consider that there were then no competing products Apple could have sourced instead.

The ruling highlights the disparities between cases mounted against edge providers and those trying to take on makers of hardware and devices.

• The General Court last year upheld an EU ruling, which was one of several the European Commission has issued against Google since 2017 relating to the company’s search, shopping and Android services. The company has been ordered to pay more than €8 billion in aggregate fines in those cases.
• European regulators have been busy developing ambitious new rules for platforms, saying that they hope the EU action also inspires similar change in the U.S. And it just might, although time for congressional action is rapidly running out.

But as with Qualcomm, the world of enforcement against firms dealing in hardware is another story entirely, moving both more slowly and less surely. In January, the EU General Court tossed out a 2009 ruling that had fined Intel about €1 billion. The FTC settled a similar claim with Intel in 2010, but no fines were mandated as part of that agreement. In November, Broadcom also reached a settlement with the FTC. That settlement didn’t carry a fine, either.

— Kate Cox (email | twitter)

A version of this story appeared on Protocol.com.