Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- European Union regulators fined Microsoft Corp. a record 899 million euros ($1.35 billion) for failing to comply with a 2004 antitrust order to stop overcharging for using its patents to connect to Windows.
``Microsoft was the first company in 50 years of EU competition policy that the commission has had to fine for failure to comply with an antitrust decision,'' European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a statement today in Brussels. ``I hope that today's decision closes a dark chapter in Microsoft's record of non-compliance.''
Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, announced last week that it will help competitors' software work better with some products, such as Office, in an effort to allay EU regulators' concerns over its dominance. While today's ruling ends the 2004 antitrust case, for which the company was fined the previous record 497 million euros, the EU has two new investigations under way over Microsoft's business practices.
tag: Microsoft, Anti-Competitive, EU, EU regulators, patents
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