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On July 12, 2006, the European Union (EU)
Competition Commission fined Microsoft Corporation
(Microsoft), the world's largest software company, 280.5
million euros (around US$ 357.3 million) for defying a 2004
antitrust judgment, and failing to comply with the European
Commission's ruling in March 2004.
Neelie Kroes (Kroes), EU Competition Commissioner, said, "I
sincerely regret that the company has not put an end to its
illegal conduct. The European Commission cannot allow such
illegal conduct to continue indefinitely. No company is
above the law, each and every company, large or small,
operating in the European Union must obey EU law, including
competition law for the benefit of all companies and
consumers."1 |
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In 2004, the Commission, after many years of investigation, found Microsoft
guilty of using its dominant position in the PC operating system market to
gain an advantage in the workgroup server operating systems and Media Player
market. The Commission had ordered Microsoft to reveal certain technical
details of the communication protocols2 used in its server
products to competitors, so that they could compete with Microsoft on a
level playing field. The Commission had also ordered Microsoft to release
its Windows XP operating system without a built-in-media player. Microsoft
also had to pay a fine of 497 million euros in March 2004.
In 2004, the European Commission had given Microsoft 120 days to disclose
its communication protocol's specifications. The delay by Microsoft in
furnishing these details led to the fine by EU in July 2006. The Commission
also threatened to levy a fine of 3 million euros per day in case of any
further delay by Microsoft. Microsoft agreed to submit the final
documentation of its technical details by July 18, 2006.
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[1] "EU fines Microsoft 280 million euros in antitrust standoff,"
www.physorg.com, July 12, 2006.
[2] A communications protocol is a standard set of rules for data
representation, signaling, authentication, and error detection required for
sending information over a communication channel.
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