US chipmaker Intel has won a fresh victory in its long-running battle against the EU’s competition watchdog the European Commission for allegedly abusing its market dominance in the computer chip market.

The almost two-decades-long legal battle began in 2009 when the European Commission fined Intel €1.06bn for “abusing its dominant position in the market for x86 CPUs”.

The Commission accused Intel of engaging in a series of anticompetitive practices aimed at excluding competitors from the computer chips market. This it said was in breach of EU antitrust rules.

The practices included ‘conditional rebates’ (rebates to computer manufacturers if they bought its x86 CPUs) and ‘naked restrictions’ (paying computer manufacturers to limit, delay or cancel the sale of products containing computer chips of its main rivals).

Intel immediately sought to annul the ruling. This was brought before the EU’s general court in 2014. Intel lost, but following an appeal the case was brought before the EU’s...