Microsoft has said it still hopes to reach a settlement with EU competition authorities after an EU court upheld sanctions against the software giant.
In a statement, Microsoft said the EU's Court of First Instance had recognised that the company had 'powerful arguments' against the Commission ruling, despite finding that the sanctions should be upheld for now.
The EU's second highest court rejected a bid by Microsoft to have the sanctions - a record fine and enforced product changes - suspended until the court can rule on its full appeal against the European Commission.
But it said that Microsoft's case was 'not at first sight unfounded'.
The Commission imposed a fine of €497m in March after finding that Bill Gates's company had abused its overwhelming dominance in software for personal computers.
After a five-year investigation, the Commission ruled that the company had to offer a European version of its Windows operating system without its Media Player software, which offers access to audio and video content.
Microsoft was further ordered to provide competitors with the server software code they need to enable their products to communicate with Windows.
The court rejected the company's arguments that immediate application of the measures, pending a final appeal ruling that is likely to be years away, would constitute 'serious and irreparable damage' to its business model.
Microsoft did not specify whether it would appeal the court's verdict.
