EU fines Microsoft record $1.3 billion

[Vandoura]

http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/27/technology/eu_microsoft.ap/index.htm?postversion=2008022706?cnn=yes

World's largest software supplier fined for charging rivals too much to make compatible computer programs.

February 27 2008: 9:31 AM EST


Microsoft was fined a record $1.3 billion by the European Union for antitrust violations related to software information.



BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- The European Union fined Microsoft Corp. a record $1.3 billion on Wednesday for charging rivals too much for software information.
EU regulators said the company charged "unreasonable prices" until last October to software developers who wanted to make products compatible with the Windows desktop operating system.
Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) immediately said that these fines were about past issues that have been resolved and the company was now working under new principles to make its products more open.
The fine is the largest ever for a single company and the first time the EU has penalized a business for failing to obey an antitrust order.
The penalty far outweighs a a March 2004 decision that fined Microsoft $613 million and ordered it to share communications information with rivals within 120 days, taking an appeal to an EU court that it lost last September.
The EU alleged that Microsoft withheld crucial interoperability information for desktop PC software - where it is the world's leading supplier - to squeeze into a new market and damage rivals that make programs for workgroup servers that help office computers connect to each other and to printers and faxes.
The company delayed complying with the EU order for three years, the EU said, only making changes on Oct. 22 to the patent licenses it charges companies that need data to help them make software that works with Microsoft.
Microsoft had initially set a royalty rate of 3.87% of a licensee's product revenues for patents and demanded that companies looking for communication information - which it said was highly secret - pay 2.98% of their products' revenues.
The EU complained last March that these rates were unfair. Under threat of fines, Microsoft two months later reduced the patent rate to 0.7% and the information license to 0.5% - but only in Europe, leaving the worldwide rates unchanged.
The EU's Court of First Instance ruling that upheld regulators' views changed the company's mind again in October when it offered a new license for interoperability information for a flat fee of $14,000 and an optional worldwide patent license for a reduced royalty of 0.4%.

Discuss

 

[Lanien]

Copy paste much? We all have access to CNN.

 

[Gerry]

I don't read CNN that often. This is news to me.

On topic. Holy crap thats alot of money being fined O_O

 

[Raesvelg]

I'm not surprised, the EU isn't my favorite group of governments in the world. Microsoft exists in a dangerous grey area of antitrust legislation, but the EU would really only be happy if either a.) the company was broken up, or b.) the company was based in the EU, in which case they wouldn't care.

 

[Gerry]

I'm not surprised, the EU isn't my favorite group of governments in the world. Microsoft exists in a dangerous grey area of antitrust legislation, but the EU would really only be happy if either a.) the company was broken up, or b.) the company was based in the EU, in which case they wouldn't care.

I have to agree with you on that. Right now the only thing thats keeping me in the EU/UK is university. To be perfectly honest I don't want to stay here in the UK as there will be no future for me here, other than be taxed out of my life. The UK is probably the richest country in the world.... because the taxpayers and "working class" get overcharged for EVERYTHING here to feed the business suits pockets.

I'd bet though that the EU won't be happy if they do break up Microsoft, which is NEVER going to happen. After all EVERYONE (including the EU) use PCs, which use Microsoft programs. If there is no Microsoft, then they're PCs will be useless, which will throw chaos into the world, which will be the end of civilisation as we know it...

However, that will never happen. Microsoft are incredibly rich anyways, they won't have to worry unless they make an absolute bomb of a product which is glitchy, full of security holes and has a very unfriendly UI. Again, that will never happen.

I wonder if it was Windows Vista that brought the EU to fine Microsoft though. After getting the internet on my new PC with Vista on it, it seems to work alot better now, which has surprised me.