Microsoft Appeals European Commission Antitrust Fine

Staff Reporter -- Electronic News, 7/12/2006

Refusing to let the software giant off the hook, the EC has fined Microsoft $357 million (280.5 million euro) for failing to fully comply with the antitrust ruling it levied against the company in 2004.

 Microsoft, not take the ruling lying down, is taking the matter to court, asking the EU's second-highest court to overturn the latest fine citing a lack of clarity in the commission's original decision.

"We have great respect for the Commission and this process, but we do not believe any fine, let alone a fine of this magnitude, is appropriate given the lack of clarity in the Commission's original decision and our good-faith efforts over the past two years," Microsoft said in a statement. "We will ask the European courts to determine whether our compliance efforts have been sufficient and whether the Commission's unprecedented fine is justified.

Microsoft said that despite its resistance to new fines, the company will still comply with the commission's 2004 decision, in which the EC fined Microsoft about $614 million (497 million euro) for breaching European competition laws, and required Microsoft to create a version of Windows without Windows Media Player and to license Windows Server communications protocols to competitors.

The EC also threatened today to impose fines of $3.82 million a day starting July 31, unless the company supplies complete and accurate technical information in compliance with antitrust laws.

Microsoft claimed that the penalties are unwarranted, and that the EC's demands lacked clarity. The company said that it has delivered "thousands of pages" of technical documents since December 2004 and made its source code available to competitors in an effort to resolve the impasse. "The record will show that Microsoft has acted in good faith to comply with the Commission's decision," the company asserted in its statement.