The European Court of Justice has upheld a 2004 ruling of the European Commission (EC) charging Microsoft with anti-competitive conduct, thereby denying Microsoft’s appeal not to pay the EC’s imposed fine amounting to 497m euro (US$690m).

Although not happy with the court’s decision, Microsoft is left with no choice but to comply with the EU competition law while planning its next legal steps which could probably be an appeal within two months as set out in the court rulings.

Looking back at the landmark case in 2004, the European Commission ordered Microsoft to ensure that its software products adhere to open standards so they can operate with other computer systems. Particularly, the EC ordered Microsoft to make sure its Windows operating system is available without the Windows Media Player.

Following the decision of the European Court of Justice, Microsoft will pay for the legal costs incurred by the EC, while the EC will have to pay for the legal costs incurred by Microsoft.

The EC was very pleased with the final verdict on the long standing case, with no less than EC Commissioner Nellie Kroes saying that the decision was a “bittersweet” victory for the Commission and for the software consuming public.

“The court has upheld a landmark commission decision to give consumers more choice in software markets,” said Ms Kroes.

Some legal analysts reacting to the decision of the court were also very pleased since this case could very well set a precedent against other companies who engage in the same behavior as Microsoft.

“It provides legal certainty now as to what you can and you can’t do in relation to information you have to make available to companies who compete in your environment to enable them to be a viable competitor,” said Michael Reynolds, of law firm Allen & Overy.

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Entry was posted on Monday, September 17th, 2007 at 5:10 pm under Microsoft, Software.

Read more entries by Arnold Zafra.
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