EU court reduces Microsoft fine

BRUSSELS, Belgium — A European Union court handed a small victory to Microsoft on Wednesday by reducing a fine for breaking antitrust laws, though it upheld the 2008 decision to impose the penalty on the software giant.

The General Court, the second highest tribunal in the union, rejected a plea by Microsoft to annul the fine but found that regulators at the European Commission had miscalculated the amount.The court set the new fine at $1.1 billion, a reduction of $48.6 million.

The commission, the EU executive agency, imposed the original fine in 2008 as part of a lengthy battle with Microsoft over the way it used its dominant Windows computer operating system to outdo competition.

The ruling “essentially upholds the Commission’s decision imposing a periodic penalty payment on Microsoft” but found that it was “necessary to alter the amount of the periodic penalty payment,” the court said in a statement.

Microsoft may make one final appeal of the ruling to the union’s highest court, the European Court of Justice.

“Although the General Court slightly reduced the fine, we are disappointed with the court’s ruling,” said Robin Koch, a spokesman for Microsoft.

Koch declined to comment on whether the company would make a further appeal.

Neelie Kroes, the former EU commissioner for competition, imposed the fine when the company failed to comply with her order to provide other companies with information to work with the operating system.

Microsoft also paid fines of $620 million and $350 million for related offenses.

Unlike in the United States, antitrust regulators in Europe can fine companies and force them to change their business practices without a judge’s permission. Companies can appeal such rulings but litigating cases often takes years.

In 2009, Intel was fined $1.37 billion, the largest single fine levied by the European antitrust authorities, for abusing its dominance in the computer chip market. Intel has appealed that ruling, saying the commission did not follow procedure. A four-day hearing is scheduled next month, and a judgment couldcome late this year.

Since Microsoft settled its antitrust case in Europe in 2009, the attention of regulators has focused on Google.

Last month, Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said Google might have abused its dominance in Internet search by promoting its own businesses at the expense of competitors. He has warned the company to propose changes by early next month or face formal charges.

That would leave Google open to being fined as much as 10 percent of its annual worldwide revenue, which reached nearly $38 billion last year, and conform to any EU law it was found to violate before being allowed to appeal to the General Court.

Microsoft is among the companies that have complaints against Google alleging that the search-engine company broke antitrust laws in online search and advertising, and charged too much for patents on smart phones.

Both Google and Almunia have signaled that they would prefer a settlement to litigation. Google would like to avoid a prolonged tussle with regulators in Europe that could restrict its business plans, while Almunia has said he prefers reaching settlements in cases that, even if they result in victories in court, may not result in effective remedies in the fast-moving technology sector.

Even so, Almunia said Wednesday after the ruling that it was a vindication of his predecessor’s crackdown on Microsoft - including her decision to impose large fines on the company.

“The judgment confirms that the imposition of such penalty payments remains an important tool at the commission’s disposal,” Almunia said in a statement.

Assailants attacked Microsoft’s office in Athens on Wednesday, driving a van through the front door and setting off an incendiary device that burned the building’s entrance, police said.

There were no injuries in the predawn attack on the U.S. company’s headquarters in the Greek capital, in the Maroussi suburb north of the city center. There was no immediate claim of responsibility and authorities and the company said no warning call had been made before the attack.

Anarchist or domestic terrorist groups have set off attacks in Greece for decades. They usually target official buildings, banks or symbols of state power with smallbombs or incendiary devices that rarely cause injury.

Information for this article was contributed by Elena Becatoros of The Associated Press.