Microsoft to Appeal European Antitrust Fine

SAN FRANCISCO -- Fresh from waving the white flag in its attempt to buy Yahoo!YHOO, MicrosoftMSFT has decided to fight an uphill battle against the European Commission.

The company said Friday that it is appealing the most recent fine levied against it by the EC in an antitrust action. "We are filing this appeal in a constructive effort to seek clarity from the Court," Microsoft said in a statement. The company declined to elaborate.

In February, the EC fined the Redmond, Wash., software giant 899 million euros, or approximately $1.4 billion, for charging its rivals "unreasonable prices" related to Microsoft's server software.

In its decision, the EC said Microsoft had charged excessively high royalty rates for interoperability information to competitors wanting to make their products compatible with Microsoft's. The company twice lowered its rates in 2007 within Europe before the EC made its decision.

Microsoft took at charge of $1.42 billion, or 15 cents a share, for the Feb. 27 fine in its third quarter ended in March.

Its stock was up 20 cents, or 0.7%, to $29.47 in recent trading.

Microsoft is calling the latest fine into question in spite of a dismal track record when going up against the EC. In an earlier antitrust fight with the EC, Microsoft was fined 497 million euros, or $613 million, in 2004. The company dropped remaining appeals in October 2007 and paid an additional 280.5 million euros in fines tacked on later for noncompliance. In total, the company paid the EC 777.5 million euros in that case.