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Microsoft fined $405 million for defying EU anti-trust ruling

The European Union fined Microsoft Corp. €280.5 million ($405.6 million) Wednesday for defying a 2004 anti-trust ruling, and warned the company to comply or face bigger fines next month.

"The EU Commission cannot allow such illegal conduct to continue indefinitely," said EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes. "No company is above the law. Each and every company, large or small, operating in the EU must abide by EU law."

Microsoft shares fell 46 cents US on Nasdaq Wednesday to close at $22.64 US on a volume of 77.1 million shares.

The penalty comes on top of a record €497 million ($718.6 million) fine the commission imposed on Microsoft in March 2004 in a precedent-setting anti-trust case. At the time, the EU ruled that Microsoft had tried to cripple its competitors in order to win control of the European market for computer software.

Microsoft said it would appeal the latest fine.

"We do not believe that any fine, let alone a fine of this magnitude, is appropriate given the lack of clarity in the commission's original decision," Microsoft lawyer Brad Smith told Reuters in a conference call.

Smith said Microsoft remains totally committed to full compliance with the commission's 2004 decision.

In 2004, the EU ordered Microsoft to share program code with its rivals after it ruled the software giant had abused the dominance of its Windows operating system to squeeze out competitors.

It ordered Microsoft to supply "complete and accurate" technical information to developers to help them make software that will work with its Windows operating system.

Microsoft said it only fully understood the EU's demands when it talked with an independent monitor this spring. Microsoft now has a team of 300 people working full-time on the EU's requests, and six of the seven instalments have been delivered.

Additional fines at this stage would be "unjustified and unnecessary," Microsoft said.

Kroes said she levied the new fine because Microsoft had ignored the EU's previous anti-trust rulings.

"Microsoft did not even come close to providing adequate information," Kroes said. "I regret that, more than two years after the decision … Microsoft has still not put an end to its illegal conduct."

Instead of complying with the court order, she said Microsoft had used virtually every available legal and court procedure to drag out the process.

The EU has also warned Microsoft to avoid anti-trust problems with its new operating system, Vista, which includes an Internet search and a PDF-type document reader that could pose problems for current rivals.

With files from the Associated Press

wasnt sure if this was posted but hey LINK

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:4444, old post ID:35709

LOL

I'd be tempted to tell the EU

(also know as the New World Order) (Who is the antiChrist??)

That Microsoft was pulling it's product line and all further support for any EU pc.

And then wish them "GOOD LUCK WITH LINUX!"



Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:4444, old post ID:35711

hah, there they go again. It's their fault for making their operating systems so biased upon their own products and coding.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:4444, old post ID:35712

i swear microsoft is trying to take over the world ><

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:4444, old post ID:35715

Microsoft Penalized Over Servers

by The Associated Press

July 13, 2006

At its core, the $357 million fine levied against Microsoft Corp. comes down to one simple contention: Microsoft's software for computer servers works faster and more efficiently with its ubiquitous Windows operating system than do rivals' offerings.

European Union regulators have said the advantage isn't due to a superior design but rather because Microsoft steadfastly guards the inner workings of Windows, which runs an estimated 90 percent of the world's personal computers.

In 2004, they ordered the world's biggest software maker to explain clearly how its operating system exchanges information, arguing the documentation would allow competing server software to compete on a level playing field.


More than two years later, regulators say Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft still has failed to comply with the order.

Specifically, they say, Microsoft hasn't disclosed enough about the technical languages, known as protocols in engineering parlance, that one machine uses to ask another device to carry out tasks, such as sharing an office printer or dishing out word-processing files stored on a hard drive.

"It's a very fundamental how-do-we-work-together type of definition, and Microsoft, by keeping secret the protocols it uses, makes sure that other companies can't write equivalent software," said Jonathan Eunice, a software analyst at research firm Illuminata.

Microsoft officials, who have vowed to appeal the decision, take exception to the EU characterizations. Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, said the EU had not been clear about how Microsoft should present the information. The company has been trying in good faith to comply with the demands, it has said.

Eunice and other analysts are less sure.

"It seems very implausible to me that Microsoft can't come up with this stuff given the amount of time and resources they have," said Andy Gavil, a Howard University law professor who follows the company's antitrust cases in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. "They're basically trying to forestall the competition that the remedy is supposed to facilitate."

But analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group said it was less clear who might benefit from the kind of documentation the EU is seeking. Sun Microsystems Inc., which first complained about the lack of information, is facing a much bigger threat from the free Linux operating system than Microsoft's server offerings, he said.

Microsoft competitors Sun, Novell Inc. and IBM Corp., which in the past have publicly criticized Microsoft, declined to comment on Wednesday's fine. All three companies also have settled private antitrust claims against Microsoft.

And software such as that offered by the Apache Foundation, which makes a popular package for running Internet servers, is doing well despite the EU's claims, Enderle said.

"This one has always seemed very strange for me," he said of the fines the EU has promised if Microsoft doesn't deliver more documentation. "Other than doing a substantial amount of damage to Microsoft, it's not clear what the benefit is."

Like I said-I'd tell them to F' off & I'd leave before I paid a half billion dollar fine

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:4444, old post ID:35723

The real question here is will this fine actually hurt Microsoft enough to make them do anything. Seriously, until this point it was like "Hmm, do I shape up the company to avoid a fine, or just pay the fine and make 20x that much in a few days with our anti-competitive practices?" They were making more money doing what they do best than they could ever lose in court costs and fines. Is $405 million enough to change that? Somehow, I doubt it.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:4444, old post ID:35724

Yeah they keep fining MS for stuff, but its not like it really hurts them.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:4444, old post ID:35725

That's really, what it's all about. They get fined money, but they make up their fine in a couple of days, and get away with their bad practices. It should work that they get fined AND restricted from doing anything related to the material they got fined for. Losing money like that isn't going to hurt them.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:4444, old post ID:35726

Yeah its peanuts for them, and they make it up anyway, they definately need another type of punishment or something. Maybe fined that much PER DAY or something. Even then.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:4444, old post ID:35727

the only punishment that would work is closing them down till everything is set right

thay would follow the rules quickly to get back in bidnezz

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:4444, old post ID:35731

oh yes

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:4444, old post ID:35732