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Microsoft faces record $1.3 billion fine from the European Union
Microsoft faces a record $1.3 billion fine from the EU for anti-competitve behaviour, EU regulators said on Wednesday.
- Agencies
- Published: 18:00 February 27, 2008
- Image Credit: Gulf News archive
- Microsoft faces a hefty fine from the EU for not sharing vital information with rival software developers.
Brussels: Microsoft Corporation faces a record $1.3 billion fine from the European Union for the amount it charges rivals for software information, officials said on Wednesday.
Microsoft's prices for software developers who wanted to make their products compatible with Windows were deemed “unreasonable'' by EU regulators.
The ruling also added that Microsoft, the first company to break EU antitrust laws, was guilty of anti-competitive behaviour by not providing important information to rival companies.
The fine is the largest ever for a single company and brings to just under $2.5 billion the amount the EU has demanded Microsoft pay in a long-running antitrust dispute.
In March 2004, Microsoft faced an initial $613 million fine for stopping rivals from being able to use specific information. Then, the EU also ordered Microsoft to share interoperability information with rivals within four months. In July 2006, Microsoft was fined another $357 million for failing to fulfill the set terms.
Microsoft's actions have stifled innovation and affected millions of people around the world, EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said. She called the record 899 million euro fine "a reasonable response to a series of quite unreasonable actions."
Microsoft has said a resolution for these issues has been reached and that its products are now more open. Last week, Microsoft said it would be willing to share more information about its products and technology in order to work better with software from rival companies, thus meeting the EU regulators' requirements.
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