The European Commission has fined Microsoft €280.5m to punish its failure to comply with a landmark 2004 competition ruling.
The tough new penalty is the first of its kind and comes on top of a record €497m fine the Commission imposed on Microsoft in March 2004 for abusing its dominant position.
The fine covers the period from December 16 last year, the deadline set by EU regulators for Microsoft to make available key information to rivals, to June 20. It was computed by multiplying 187 days of violations by €1.5m a day.
'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,' Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said.
The fine fell short of a possible maximum €2m a day. If Microsoft fails to comply with the Commission ruling by July 31, it would face a maximum possible fine of €3m a day.
Microsoft said it would appeal the decision to lodge a new fine. 'We do not believe any fine, let alone a fine of this magnitude, is appropriate given the lack of clarity in the commission's original decision and our good-faith efforts over the past two years,' said Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith.
In 2004, the Commission ruled Microsoft squeezed out rivals by withholding information that would help them make server software that could run as smoothly on Microsoft's ubiquitous Windows operating system as its own server software does.
The Commission had ordered Microsoft to provide that information by June 2004. But Microsoft's offerings failed to meet its standards. One of the company's remedies was judged by a special Commission representative 'fundamentally flawed'.
