Press Release: Antitrust: Commission imposes €899 million penalty on Microsoft for non-compliance with March 2004 Decision

On 27 February, 2008, the European Commission imposed a penalty payment of €899 million on Microsoft for non-compliance with its obligations under the Commission’s March 2004 Decision (see IP/04/382) prior to 22 October 2007. This Decision, adopted under Article 24(2) of Regulation 1/2003, finds that, prior to 22 October 2007, Microsoft had charged unreasonable prices for access to interface documentation for work group servers. The 2004 Decision, which was upheld by the Court of First Instance in September 2007 (see CJE/07/63 and MEMO/07/359), found that Microsoft had abused its dominant position under Article 82 of the EC Treaty, and required Microsoft to disclose interface documentation which would allow non-Microsoft work group servers to achieve full interoperability with Windows PCs and servers at a reasonable price.

European Commission: MEMO/08/125: Antitrust: Commission Decision of 27 February 2008 to impose penalty payments on Microsoft – frequently asked questions http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/08/125&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

European Commission: SPEECH/08/105: Decision to impose € 899 million penalty on Microsoft for non-compliance http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/08/105&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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