Microsoft hit with £681m EU fine

Updated 14.31 Wed Feb 27 2008

Keywords: microsoft

Computer giant Microsoft has been fined a record £681 million by the European Union for flouting competition rules.

EU regulators said the US company had been charging too much for information it sold to rival software developers who wanted to make products compatible with the Windows desktop operating system.

"Talk as you know is cheap, flouting the rules is expensive" - Neelie Kroes

The fine is the largest ever for a single company and brings to just under £1.25 billion the amount the EU has demanded Microsoft fork out in a long-running anti-trust battle.

Microsoft immediately said that these fines were about past issues that have been resolved and the company was now working under new principles to make its products more open.

But EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes warned that the company was under investigation on two other separate cases and said she was sceptical over license changes the company announced last week.

Ms Kroes said: "Talk as you know is cheap, flouting the rules is expensive."

She added: "Microsoft continued to stifle innovation. How? By charging companies prohibitive royalty rates for the essential information they needed to offer software products to computer users around the world."