The European Commission’s Microsoft Decision

In its Decision of 24 March 2004, the European Commission found Microsoft guilty of abusing Article 82 of the EC Treaty by withholding from competitors information required to permit interoperability between the Windows PC and server operating systems and other operating systems, and by bundling Media Player with the PC operating system. By way of remedy, it ordered Microsoft to supply specified interface information to competitors, to offer a version of Windows without a media player as well as the version with it, and to pay a fine of EUR 497.2 million (approximately USD 610 million). This memorandum provides a brief analysis of the decision (the "Decision") and its implications.

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