Way way back, at least for computers, Intel was slammed with a massive $1.45 billion fine for atni-competitive practices. This fine was levied by the EU back in May of 2009, so a long time ago at the rate technology changes. It appears that Intel will finally get a long awaited chance to appeal the fine this July 3-6.

The case is set to be heard by an EU General Court between July 3 - July 6. The details on just how Intel may challenge the fine are not known, but it could rely on an ombudsman finding that the European Commission hadn't conducted the investigation properly and, apparently, missed a meeting with Dell.

Back when the fine was first levied, EU officials found that Intel was being anti-competitive through its practices in order to dissuade PC makers from using AMD's offerings. Some of these practices accused were pricing the chips so low that it could hurt Intel's finances, but were below were AMD could compete. Intel was also accused of threatening companies that put a lot of effort into selling and marketing AMD-based offerings. More as it comes.