Microsoft cuts prices within the EU from 3.87% to 0.7% of licensee's revenues for a patent licence and from 2.98% to 0.5% for interoperability information. Microsoft complies but charges a royalty for the information. Brussels orders Microsoft to "unbundle" its Media Player from Windows so rival applications could be used for music or video, and demands that IT give rival software makers enough information to work with computers on Microsoft operating systems - 95% of the world's desktop computers and 80% of corporate servers.īrussels, frustrated at delays in implementing the ruling, imposes a daily fine that reaches €280.5m. The EU fined Microsoft an initial €497m, a record then, in March 2004 and added on €280.5m in July 2006 for non-compliance with its ruling.Įuropean commission inquiry into how Microsoft controls access to its Windows operating system. Thomas Vinje, legal counsel for the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, a group of anti-Microsoft complainants such as IBM and Nokia, blamed the company's "footdragging" and praised Kroes's perseverance. Denis Waelbroeck, competition partner at the lawyers Ashurst in Brussels, said: "While such a fine will no doubt do wonders for the commission's image as a tough regulator, some might consider it unfair, not least since the commission refused to tell Microsoft what would be a 'reasonable' amount to charge for patent licences despite being asked several times." "Hopefully, it will be at the fifth time," she said.īut some legal experts questioned the EU's move. Kroes said that during the protracted negotiations with Microsoft over compliance in the past few years it had promised to change its behaviour four times. Talk is cheap, flouting the rules is expensive, so let's wait and find the reality in this context." "I'm not in the mood when someone is talking about interoperability to accept this as change. Sources said last week's announcement was just the first step in a series planned to comply with last September's ruling against it by Europe's second-highest court, the court of first instance.īut Kroes reiterated that she was investigating two further complaints against the group regarding interoperability and bundling of products such as Internet Explorer with Windows and warned that she could impose further penalties unless the company underwent a genuine change in behaviour. For example, Microsoft pledged last week to give third-party programmers more information about its Windows platforms, addressing the problem of so-called interoperability. The company said the latest fine was about past issues that had been resolved and pointed to new working practices to make its products more open. "I hope that today's decision closes a dark chapter in Microsoft's record of non-compliance." "Microsoft is the first company in 50 years of EU competition policy that the commission has had to fine for failure to comply with an anti-trust decision," she said. ![]() ![]() Yesterday's fine applies to the 488 days from Juntil Octowhen Microsoft refused to comply with the commission's March 2004 antitrust ruling.ĭenying vindictiveness, Kroes insisted the new penalty was "reasonable and proportionate" and should be "a clear signal to the outside world and especially Microsoft that they should stick to the rules". ![]() The group has paid out $5.8bn in the past few years to settle lawsuits with rivals over abusing its monopoly. Neelie Kroes, EU competition commissioner, who is determined to change Microsoft's entire business model and that of other leading US technology groups, said she had no pleasure in imposing the fine and told journalists she could have charged Microsoft €1.5bn.īut analysts said the penalty, the equivalent of two weeks' free cash flow for the technology company, was a drop in the ocean for Microsoft, which last month posted a record net $4.7bn (£2.4bn) profit in its second quarter.
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