Microsoft suffers decisive antitrust defeat in Europe
Microsoft, the world’s largest software
maker, illegally abused its market power to crush competitors.
“I don’t know what anti-competitive means”
A European Union court has backed a European Commission ruling that Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, illegally abused its market power to crush competitors.
The second-highest EU court dismissed the company’s appeal on all substantive points of the 2004 antitrust ruling and upheld a record 497 million euro ($689.9 million) fine.
The court said Microsoft was unjustified in tying new applications to its Windows operating system in a way that squeezed out rivals and harmed consumer choice. The verdict may be appealed only on points of law and not of fact and may force Microsoft to change its business practices.
Since the original decision, the Commission has fined Microsoft a further 280.5 million euros, saying it had failed to comply with the interoperability sanction. The EU regulator is considering a further fine for non-compliance.
Should be interesting to see what happens next - since Microsoft has exhausted any appeals based on content issues.
Posted: Mon - September 17, 2007 at 08:53 AM