290521
submission
kocsonya writes:
The antitrust case in Europe against Microsoft entered the next state. Microsoft lost its appeal at the Court of First Instance. "The Court of First Instance (CFI) essentially upholds the Commission's decision finding that Microsoft abused its dominant position," a court statement said. In addition, the Court ordered Microsoft to pay most of the litigation cost. The Court upheld the pending almost 500 million Euro fine and added a further about 290 million, with the prospect of more fines if Microsoft fails to comply. See the ABC article here.
290517
submission
An anonymous reader writes:
The evil empire has lost its appeal against a fine from the European Commission in the European Court of First Instance — meaning that Europe may now be the place where MSFT are finally held to account for their behaviour. But be warned though, the Court of First Instance exists to speedily deal with commercial matters and its decisions can be appealed to the full European Court of Justice.
290515
submission
fredrikv writes:
The European Union court in Luxembourg ruled against Microsoft on most points in the long-running antitrust case and ordered the company to change its business practices, reports BBC and others. Microsoft was ordered to share communications code with rivals and to sell a copy of Windows without Media Player. The court also upheld a $613 million fine — the largest ever levied by EU regulators.
"The court observes that it is beyond dispute that in consequence of the tying consumers are unable to acquire the Windows operating system without simultaneously acquiring Windows Media Player," the ruling said. "In that regard, the court considers that neither the fact that Microsoft does not charge a separate price for Windows Media Player nor the fact that consumers are not obliged to use that Media Player is irrelevant."
The court threw out just one small part of the European Commission's ruling, which had established an independent monitoring trustee to supervise Microsoft's behaviour. The European Commission immediately said it welcomed the ruling, without giving details.
Microsoft can appeal the decision to the EU's highest court, the European Court of Justice, within two months.
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