BRUSSELS, March 1 (UPI) -- The European Union Thursday threatened Microsoft Corp. with fines of $4 million a day for allegedly defying its antitrust ruling on Windows compatibility.
The inter-governmental alliance's regulatory arm said Microsoft still wanted to overcharge rival companies for information needed to write programs that run smoothly with Windows-based machines.
This violates the terms of a 2004 order, the European Commission said.
"This is a company which apparently does not like to have to conform to antitrust decisions," a commission spokesman said.
Microsoft said it believed it was "fair" in its pricing.
Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said Microsoft had agreed the main basis for its pricing should be whether its protocols were "innovative."
"The commission's current view is that there is no significant innovation in these protocols," she said. "I am therefore again obliged to take formal measures to ensure that Microsoft complies with its obligations."
The commission could impose the daily fines on Microsoft if it does not respond adequately within four weeks.
The fines, backdated to Dec. 15, 2005, would be on top of earlier fines of $1.03 billion the commission imposed in 2004 and last July.
Microsoft is appealing both penalties.
