RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Our business news begins with a big penalty against a software giant.
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MONTAGNE: The European Union today fined Microsoft $357 million for failing to comply with an antitrust order.
Ms. NEELIE KROES (Competition Commissioner, European Union): No company is above the law. Each and every company, large or small, operating in the European Union must obey the E.U. laws.
MONTAGE: That's E.U. Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes speaking today in Brussels.
Microsoft says it will appeal the fine. NPR's Wendy Kaufman is covering this story, and she joins me now. And, Wendy, give us a little background on this case.
WENDY KAUFMAN reporting:
Renee, back in March of 2004, the European commission ruled that Microsoft abused its market position to violate European competition law. The specific issue in dispute involves server software.
The commission held that Microsoft squeezed out its rivals by essentially withholding information that would assist them in making their communications and networking software run smoothly on the Windows operating system. The commission ordered Microsoft to make enormous amounts of extremely technical information available to its rivals. The Europeans say the company hasn't done that.
Microsoft, of course, claims otherwise. And very early this morning, the company's general counsel, Brad Smith, said the company, quote, "did not believe that any fine, let alone a fine of this magnitude, is appropriate, given the lack of clarity in the commission's original decision and our good faith efforts to comply."
Microsoft says it's already turned over more that 12,000 pages of documentation and says it is in full compliance with an agreement between the two sides that was reached this spring that lays out very precise items to be made available.
MONTAGNE: So, what happens next? Microsoft says it'll appeal.
KAUFMAN: Right. Microsoft has pledged to appeal. The company will ask the European courts to determine whether its compliance efforts have been sufficient and whether what Microsoft calls the commission's unprecedented fine is justified. A separate appeal in the European courts is already pending.
In the mean time, the European commissioners said that new, stiffer penalties of $3.82 million a day would go into effect beginning July 31st unless Microsoft is in full compliance with the order.
We should also note that the European commissioner has warned Microsoft that it has to take care to avoid new antitrust problems with its new and soon to be released operating system Windows Vista.
MONTAGNE: Well, are there other cases still pending against Microsoft?
KAUFMAN: This is really the last of the big antitrust cases against the company. You may recall that the U.S. Department of Justice and Microsoft settled a major antitrust case in November of 2001. A related suit brought by several states was settled in 2004. And two big corporate cases involving Sun Microsystems and Real Networks have also been solved.
MONTAGNE: Wendy, thanks. That's NPR's Wendy Kaufman on the European Union fining Microsoft $357 million. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
