European regulators have gone dramatically further than their US counterparts by imposing a record fine of €497 million ($A817 million) and product changes on US software giant Microsoft for stifling competitors
Published:
25 March 2004 y., Thursday
The European Union's competition commissioner, Mario Monti, yesterday announced at the end of a five-year investigation that he was fining the world's biggest software company for abusing its dominant market position.
The Italian commissioner also ordered Bill Gates's titan to offer a European version of its all-conquering Windows operating system without Windows Media Player within 90 days.
And Microsoft was ordered to disclose "complete and accurate" data to enable rival companies to offer low-end servers that can work with Windows within 120 days.
The financial penalty is the highest levied by the EU executive against a company.
The Seattle-based company, denying that it abuses its overwhelming dominance to illegally crush competitors, has already vowed to appeal the verdict at the European Court of Justice.
Monti said the sanctions laid down a clear marker for the future conduct of Microsoft, which escaped fines in a US anti-trust investigation.
Šaltinis:
theage.com.au
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
The European Commission has approved, under EC Treaty state aid rules, an amendment to a Lithuanian scheme allowing aid to be granted of up to €500 000 per company, initially approved on 8 June 2009.
more »
As agreed by the President of the European Commission and the President of the Russian Federation during the last EU-Russia Summit in Khabarovsk, the EU and Russia have strengthened the current dispositions under the EU-Russia Energy Dialogue to prevent and manage potential energy crises, with an enhanced Early Warning Mechanism.
more »
The European Union has today presented to the World Trade Organization the trade facilitation projects it has financed between 2006 and 2008.
more »
The European Commission has authorised, under the EC Treaty’s rules on state aid, a planned state guarantee by Romania to enable Ford Romania SA to access a loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
more »
The economic crisis has left many countries with budget deficits well over the 3% limit. The commission is proposing deadlines for reducing the gaps.
more »
Statistics Lithuania informs that in October 2009, against September, prices for consumer goods and services went down by 0.4 per cent.
more »
Lithuania’s Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Šarūnas Adomavičius took part in bilateral political consultations with representatives from foreign affairs, commerce and transport ministries of the People’s Republic of China.
more »
Under the budgetary surveillance powers conferred by the EU Treaty, the European Commission today proposed to the Council to set 2013 as the deadline for the correction of the budget deficits in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Portugal.
more »
A joint partnership between the World Bank, the Moldovan Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry and the Ministry of Environment was launched in Moldova’s capital in the late days of October.
more »
World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick today joins senior officials from the Government of Singapore to launch a new global urban strategy that will guide Bank advisory services and financing in the sector over the next decade.
more »