Microsoft loses legal bid over £343m fine

Updated 10.39 Tue Sep 18 2007

Keywords: Brussels, European Commission, Microsoft

Microsoft has lost its legal challenge to overturn the biggest single fine ever imposed by the European Commission.

The company was fined £343 million for abusing its "dominant position" by effectively keeping rival software firms out of the market.

The court said it was "irrelevant" that it "bundled" Windows with its own software and did not charge any extra

Europe's second highest court threw out the appeal on Monday saying it was "beyond dispute" the software giant obliged customers to buy its Windows operating system along with the company's Media Player software.

The European Court of First Instance said it was "irrelevant" that it "bundled" Windows with its own software and did not charge any extra.

The court saw it as an abuse of its dominant position by tying the Microsoft product together and not providing the necessary technical information to rivals to enter the same market.

Brussels has also insisted that Microsoft offer Windows without support software - and allow rival firms to have the necessary codes for their own products to be able to work with Windows.

The Bill Gates-founded company is almost certain to launch a fresh appeal, this time to the European Court of Justice, the final arbiter in anti-trust cases.