In a ruling released on September 17, 2007, the Court of First Instance (the “Court”), the second highest court in Europe, reaffirmed the European Commission’s (“EC”) 2004 decision that Microsoft abused its market power by tying its digital media player to the Windows operating system. By bundling these products together, Microsoft undercut existing competition in the digital media player market and created an anticompetitive market structure. The Court upheld nearly all the key points the 2004 EC decision and, in doing so, delivered a stinging rebuke to Microsoft. The Court’s ruling stated that the EC’s standard of interoperability between the Windows operating system and alternative digital media players was well conceived and that there is no inconsistency between that degree of interoperability and the remedy imposed by the EC.
The Court also upheld the EC directive to share confidential computer code with Microsoft’s competitors, a ruling that contains possible ramifications on other companies that possess market dominance in various software markets. The Court went on to declare that the EUR 497 million ($690 million) fine levied against Microsoft shall stand as is.
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