EU fines Microsoft a record $1.3 billion
Regulators: Software giant has defied 2004 antitrust ruling


BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Commission fined Microsoft a record $1.3 billion Wednesday for defying sanctions imposed on the software giant in 2004 for antitrust violations, far exceeding the original penalty.

EU regulators said the company charged “unreasonable prices” until last October to software developers who wanted to make products compatible with the Windows desktop operating system.

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The fine is the largest ever for a single company and brings to just under $2.5 billion the amount the EU has demanded Microsoft pay in a long-running antitrust dispute.

The Commission, executive arm of the European Union, has now fined Microsoft more than any other firm for failing to comply with sanctions. It said no other company had ever ignored sanctions.

Microsoft immediately said the issues for which it was fined have been resolved and the company was making its products more open.

The fine comes less than a week after Microsoft said it would share more information about its products and technology in an effort to make it work better with rivals’ software and meet the demands of antitrust regulators in Europe.

But EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes remained skeptical and said Microsoft was under investigation in two additional cases.

“Talk is cheap,” Kroes said. “Flouting the rules is expensive.”

Microsoft’s actions have stifled innovation and affected millions of people around the world, Kroes said. She called the record 899 million euro fine “a reasonable response to a series of quite unreasonable actions.”

“We could have gone as high as 1.5 billion euros ($2.23 billion),” she said. “The maximum amount is higher than what we did at the end of the day.”

Microsoft fought hard against a March 2004 decision that led to a 497 million euro ($613 million) fine and an order that the software maker share interoperability information with rivals within 120 days. The company lost its appeal in that case in September.

Microsoft was fined $357 million in July 2006 for failing to obey that order.

The EU alleged that Microsoft withheld crucial interoperability information for desktop PC software — where it is the world’s leading supplier — in an effort squeeze into a new market and damage rivals.

The company delayed compliance for three years, the EU said, only making changes in October to the patent licenses for companies that need data to create software that works with Microsoft.

How does the rate that Microsoft was charging fall into an antitrust issue in the fist place. I also don't agree that EU can tell Microsoft or any company how much they can charge. If you read the article Microsoft was charging the same rate the world round but EU forced them to drop their rate. I don't think it's fair and what the fine will do is increase our costs of purchasing Microsoft products..

How does the rate that Microsoft was charging fall into an antitrust issue in the fist place.

‘… the fine will increase our costs of purchasing Microsoft products…’,

I’m not sure of the pertinence of the question you raise.

While Microsoft tried to fight the antitrust claims from the Brussels court, as it had done with similar antitrust charges from US courts in the late 90’s, and lost on every single counts, it has long since exhausted its legal recourse against the Euro Commission Antitrust Claims, and has recognized, and complied with the Brussels courts requests, only way too late.

The current ‘fines’ do not deal directly with the rather old 2004 Brussels decision which fell against Microsoft. Rather, it is a ‘fine’ for failure to comply with the long-standing court request.

That is how Microsoft was hit Wednesday by an 899 million euro ($1.34 billion) fine from the European Commission for REFUSING TO COMPLY with its long-standing 2004 request to provide competitors with key software data at a fair price, the heart of US and Euro Antitrust claims.

Again Microsoft tried every possible means to avoid facing the request, but has now decided to comply with the Euro Commission requests, settled the ‘fines’ which they don’t even contest, and put this old 2004 judgment behind them.

The bottom line is that Microsoft was long ago stopped by US Antitrust judgments in their monopolistic, and unfair Interoperability trade practices towards the US domestic markets.

While they tried to extend their unfair trade practices to Euro markets, they have now been clearly stopped from doing so in 2004 by a Euro Commission ruling, and have been fined recently for not complying with the said court ruling.

As for your claims that …

that would be very unlikely.

Although 1,3 billion$, is a lot of money to you and me, it is but a drop in the bucket for Microsoft.
On the other hand, opening up free competition through fair ‘interoperability’ practices, will make compatible PC products, to be run on Microsoft Operating systems, much more affordable for the average consumer.

That’s what antitrust rulings seek to achieve: ‘free and fair competitive markets’, meant to benefit consumers.

EU regulators said the company charged “unreasonable prices”

I don't know if you read the article but the increased fine was all about the rates Microsoft was charging...they dropped the rates for the EU but left the rates in place for the rest of the world...in my humble opinion screw EU...I run my own business and no one tells me what my rates are...

gives the impression that you are missing the point, or simply misunderstand the 'antitrust' aspect of the EC ruling.

Also, you incorrectly state that '... increased fine was all about the rates Microsoft was charging...'.