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Microsoft wins stay of EC fine

Sylvia Carr silicon.com

Published: 24 Jan 2006 16:00 GMT

Microsoft has received three extra weeks to comply with the European Commission's antitrust penalties against the company. If it fails, it will once again face the threat of a fine accumulating at a rate of €2m (£1m) per day.

In late December the EC said it may impose the fine by tomorrow (25 January) if Microsoft did not provide complete documentation which would allow competitors' workgroup servers to interoperate with Windows PCs and servers.

But yesterday a Microsoft spokesperson told Reuters it had received an extension to 15 February.

Microsoft has submitted instructions for server interoperability but in December the EC described them as "incomplete and inaccurate" and requested "complete and accurate specifications".

The EC found Microsoft guilty of abusing its dominant market position for PC and server operating systems and media players in its landmark March 2004 ruling, after which the penalties handed down included Microsoft providing the server interoperability documentation.