LUXEMBOURG, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. software giant Microsoft on Monday lost an appeal against a $690 million fine in the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg.
In 2004, the European Commission ruled the Redmond, Wash., company was monopolistic in keeping competitor's out of the server market as well as its bundling of Windows Media Player with operating systems.
Monday's decision upheld the ruling but struck down the EC's imposition of an independent monitoring trustee to oversee the company's software development, a BBC correspondent reported.
"The Court criticizes, in particular, the obligation imposed on Microsoft to allow the monitoring trustee, independently of the Commission, access to its information, documents, premises and employees and also to the source code of its relevant products," the ruling said.
The ruling means Microsoft has to pay 80 percent of the commission's legal costs, while the commission has to carry part of Microsoft's costs because of the monitoring trustee issue, the report said.
Microsoft has two months to appeal at the European Court of Justice, the union's highest court.
