Microsoft Corporation has said that a decision by the EU today to fine it €280m million for failing to obey a 2004 antitrust order to share program code with rivals was unjust and said it would take the matter to court.
The EU said further fines of €3m a day would take effect unless the company supplies "complete and accurate" technical information to developers to help them make software that works smoothly with its ubiquitous Windows operating system.
"I regret that, more than two years after the decision ... Microsoft has still not put an end to its illegal conduct," said EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes. "I have no alternative but to levy penalty payments for this continued compliance. No company is above the law."
Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said the company would ask the courts if the "unprecedented" fine was justified.
"We do not believe this fine is justified," he said in a statement. "We have great respect for the Commission and this process, but we do not believe 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 over the past two years."
The EU imposed daily fines of €1.5 million from December 15 to June 20 when it decided that Microsoft was still violating EU law.
The EU had already levied a record €497 million fine on Microsoft in 2004 and ordered it to hand over communications code to rivals, saying it had deliberately tried to cripple them as it won control of the market.
Commissioner Kroes also said she had warned Microsoft that it had to take care to avoid antitrust problems with its new operating system Vista, which will include an Internet search and a PDF-type document reader that could pose problems for current rivals.
Rejecting Microsoft's claims that the EU's demands were vague and shifting, the EU said the obligations were specific and have not changed: "I don't buy that line," Commissioner Kroes said, describing the EU's demands of March 2004 as "crystal clear."
Microsoft said it only fully understood what it needed to do to appease the EU after talks with an independent monitor this spring that agreed on a work project. The company said it has a team of 300 people working full-time on a framework to supply the information. Six of seven installments have already been delivered, it said, and another is due next Tuesday.
Smith said despite the fines, Microsoft "remains totally committed to full compliance" with the 2004 antitrust decision, adding that the company had handed over "thousands of pages" of technical documents to EU experts.
He said claims made by the EU that it was dragging its feet on complying were also unfair and that revisions of requested information were delivered "promptly."
"We will continue to do whatever the Commission asks to comply with its decision as these issues are considered by the courts," said Smith.
The fines will be fed back into the EU budget and divided between EU governments.
Commissioner Kroes said she was sending a message to all businesses operating in the EU that they must follow EU law.