Subscribe

Microsoft to drop Seoul appeal

By Reuters
Seoul, 16 Oct 2007

Microsoft has told a South Korean court it wants to drop its appeal against a landmark Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) antitrust ruling.

"Microsoft has sought to withdraw its appeal," the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

"We are working with the KFTC and the Seoul High Court, but because the matter is pending before the court we cannot comment further."

The Fair Trade Commission said it had been notified by the high court of Microsoft`s decision to drop its appeal. A spokesman said the commission was undecided on its next step.

The commission ruled in 2005 that Microsoft had abused its dominant market position, fining it 32.5 billion won ($35.41 million) and ordering it to separate its instant messaging programme from the Windows operating system.

The commission rejected Microsoft`s appeal in May 2006, and then the company took the case to the Seoul High Court.

After the court rejected a stay while the software company challenged the ruling, Microsoft said in October 2006 it had made changes to its Windows Vista operating system to meet all of the commission`s demands.

Microsoft suffered a decisive antitrust defeat in September when a European Union court upheld a landmark ruling that the world`s largest software maker had abused its dominant market position to crush rivals.

The second-highest EU court dismissed the company`s appeal on all key points against the 2004 European Commission ruling and upheld a record 497 million euro ($705.7 million) fine.

Microsoft has repeatedly said it had not decided whether to appeal the EU case.

Share