EU
EU

EU confirms record Microsoft fine

£331m fine and extra penalties for anti-competitive practices

Peter Williams

Microsoft has been hit with a €497m (£331m) fine and other penalties by the European Commission for the company's anti-competitive practices involving its Windows Media Player software.

The fine is just over one per cent of Microsoft's cash reserves.

Advertisement

The Commission's ruling states: "Microsoft Corporation broke European Competition law by leveraging its near-monopoly in the market for PC operating systems onto the markets for work group server and for media players."

The ruling states that, as "the illegal behaviour is still ongoing", it has ordered Microsoft to disclose to competitors within 120 days "the interfaces required for their products to be able to 'talk' with the ubiquitous Windows operating system".

The company is also required, within 90 days, to offer a version of Windows without Windows Media Player to PC manufacturers or when selling directly to end users. But it can continue to offer a version including the Media Player.

Microsoft will need to produce and maintain two versions of the current - and potentially future -versions of Windows.

Competition commissioner Mario Monti said in a statement: "Today's decision restores the conditions for fair competition in the markets concerned and establishes clear principles for the future conduct of a company with such a strong, dominant position."

Microsoft is expected to announce its intention to appeal the decision within hours.

  • Have your say
  • Send to a friend
  • Print
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Share

Tags:

Do you agree?

Further reading

MS UK chief named after eight months' wait

Resellers welcome appointment of 'channel-friendly' Alistair Baker

Commission fails to level playing field

The European antitrust ruling will have little effect on Microsoft's market dominance, says Jaap Favier.

EC slammed for 'draconian' Microsoft fine

US pressure group warns of 'negative global impact' following antitrust ruling

Main offenders: Record EC antitrust fines

How Microsoft's fine compares with other antitrust penalties

Related whitepapers

Related jobs

Most watched

HTC Hero

Hands on with the HTC Hero

V3.co.uk gets a walk through of the Hero, which includes HTC's new Sense overlay for Android

Xperia X1

Video Review: Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

First Looks Editor Ian Williams gets hands on with the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

IT white papers

Search white papers

Top categories

Poll

Poll: Summer smartphones

Poll: Summer smartphones

Which smartphone will you be taking to the beach this summer?

View poll results

Advertisement

Advertisement

Newsletter signup

Sign up for our range of FREE newsletters:

Existing User

Newsletter user login:

Enter email address to edit your newsletter preferences

Job of the week

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Hiring now on ComputingCareers:

Related IT jobs

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Spotlight

HTC Hero

Hands on with the HTC Hero

V3.co.uk gets a walk through of the Hero, which includes...

NetGear ReadyNAS NVX

Review: NetGear ReadyNAS NVX

NetGear's four-bay compact network-attached storage gets a serious speed boost

AMD

AMD adds to six-core Opteron line up

New HE processors promise even lower power consumption

Adobe Systems

Adobe launches ColdFusion 9 and ColdFusion Builder

Firm promises enhanced developer productivity

Primary Navigation