EU Fines Microsoft $357 Million for Antitrust Violations, page 1

The European Union has decided to fine U.S. software corporation Microsoft 280.5 million euros (US$357.3 million) for refusing to comply with a 2004 ruling that determined Microsoft was a monopoly and had to share its Windows system software source code with other software companies. A similar case against Microsoft in the U.S. failed to punish Microsoft severely for violations of U.S. antitrust laws, but this is the second case in Europe where Microsoft has been fined heavily.

t oday.reuters.com
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission fined Microsoft 280.5 million euros ($357.3 million) on Wednesday to punish its failure to comply with a landmark 2004 antitrust ruling.

The tough new penalty is the first of its kind and comes on top of a record 497 million euro fine the Commission imposed on Microsoft in March 2004 for abusing its dominant position.

The fine covers the period from December 16 last year, the deadline set by EU regulators for Microsoft to make available key information to rivals, to June 20. It was computed by multiplying 187 days of violations at 1.5 million euros per day.

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What is Microsoft going to do? It seems like they owe the EU like a billion dollars. Are they going to pay and comply or just stop selling their software to EU countries? I wish that the U.S. courts had split Microsoft into a separate system software company and an applications company, but it didn't happen.

[edit on 16-7-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]