• The Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, February 27, 2008 11:46 AM

Microsoft was handed another hefty fine by the European Commission on Wednesday for failing to comply with EU court's 2004 antitrust ruling. The software giant will now have to pay $1.35 billion for charging "unreasonable prices" through Oct. 22, 2007 for access to technical specifications software writers need to develop programs for Windows and other Microsoft products. The Commission deemed this to be a monopolistic practice, and fines were handed out for 488 days of noncompliance with the EU ruling. This is the highest amount the Commission has ever charged for an antitrust case.

Microsoft was found guilty of abusing its dominant position and was forced to open up its technical software information to third-party developers at a reasonable price so they could make products that work more smoothly with those developed by Microsoft. Interoperability, as the issue is known, has become a huge trend on the Web, where content providers are opening up their application programming interfaces so third parties can enhance their Web sites.

Ironically, the fine comes only a week after the software giant announced that it would open up the required information to third-party software makers.

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