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Calling it "excessive," Microsoft criticized in an appeals hearing today the 899 million euro fine imposed three years ago by European Union antitrust regulators, according to Reuters.
The fine, equivalent to $1.35 billion in 2008 and $1.27 billion today, penalized Microsoft for failing to comply with sanctions in a case involving the information it provides to other companies to allow their products to work with Microsoft software. The fine specifically addresses the rates that Microsoft charges to license its interoperability protocols and patents to third parties.
At the time, the fine was the largest ever imposed by the EU against a single company, and Microsoft became the first company ever fined by the European regulators over noncompliance. In criticizing the fine, Microsoft's attorney argued that the EU should have been clearer about the rates it expected the company to charge.
Calling the fine "most undeserved," Microsoft attorney Jean Francois Bellis told the General Court that "this case would not have arisen if the [European] Commission had been as explicit with respect to rates which it wanted Microsoft to charge as it had been with all other terms of licensing proposed by Microsoft," according to Reuters.
The appeals court generally takes about six months to a year before delivering a verdict, Reuters reported, while noting that the court typically is reluctant to overrule the decisions of the European Commission.
Microsoft did not immediately return CNET's request for comment.
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The fine, equivalent to $1.35 billion in 2008 and $1.27 billion today, penalized Microsoft for failing to comply with sanctions in a case involving the information it provides to other companies to allow their products to work with Microsoft software. The fine specifically addresses the rates that Microsoft charges to license its interoperability protocols and patents to third parties.
At the time, the fine was the largest ever imposed by the EU against a single company, and Microsoft became the first company ever fined by the European regulators over noncompliance. In criticizing the fine, Microsoft's attorney argued that the EU should have been clearer about the rates it expected the company to charge.
Calling the fine "most undeserved," Microsoft attorney Jean Francois Bellis told the General Court that "this case would not have arisen if the [European] Commission had been as explicit with respect to rates which it wanted Microsoft to charge as it had been with all other terms of licensing proposed by Microsoft," according to Reuters.
The appeals court generally takes about six months to a year before delivering a verdict, Reuters reported, while noting that the court typically is reluctant to overrule the decisions of the European Commission.
Microsoft did not immediately return CNET's request for comment.
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