Feb
27
$1.3 billion fine for Microsoft
Posted by Dirk Avery at 10:02 am under Patent, Technology.
About a week after Microsoft pledged to be open with the formats used by its dominant products (discussed previously here, here and here) the EU has slapped the Redmond company with a $1.3 billion fine. The fine represents about 20% of Microsoft’s cash on hand ($6.1 billion). Apparently the EU was concerned about the high prices Microsoft had previously charged for the information it gave away last week. BusinessWeek’s Aoife White writes:
EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes remained skeptical [after last week’s giveaway] and said Microsoft was under investigation in two additional cases.
“Talk is cheap,” Kroes said. “Flouting the rules is expensive.”
Microsoft’s actions have stifled innovation and affected millions of people around the world, Kroes said. She called the record 899 million euro fine “a reasonable response to a series of quite unreasonable actions.” …
The company delayed compliance for three years, the EU said, only making changes in October to the patent licenses for companies that need data to create software that works with Microsoft.