Date: 02-29-2008
The European Union (EU) has imposed a record-breaking $1.3 billion fine on Microsoft for failing to comply with a 2004 antitrust ruling. In total, Microsoft, which has already been fined by the EU twice before, has now been fined nearly $2.4 billion by European antitrust regulators. In announcing the fine, EU commissioner Neelie Kroes clearly expressed irritation toward Microsoft’s compliance failure and blamed the company for charging too much for sharing software information with its rivals. She expressed hope, however, that the fine would close a “dark chapter” in Microsoft’s history of non-compliance. In a statement, a Microsoft spokesman noted that “the Commission announced in October 2007 that Microsoft was in full compliance with the 2004 decision, so these fines are about past issues that have been resolved.”
