EU Imposes €280.5 Million Fine on Microsoft

EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes announced today that the European Commission has fined software giant Microsoft 280.5 million Euros for its failure to comply with EU anti-trust rules. The European Commission found in March 2004 that Microsoft had abused its dominant position under EU anti-trust rules, and the Commission required the company to disclose complete and accurate interface documentation to allow non-Microsoft work group servers full interoperability with Windows PCs and servers. Commissioner Kroes said, "I regret that, more than two years after the decision, Microsoft has still not put an end to its illegal conduct. I have no alternative but to levy penalty payments for this continued non-compliance... I sincerely hope that the latest technical documentation being delivered by Microsoft will finally bring them into compliance and that further penalty payments will not prove necessary."

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