Microsoft appealing EU's $1.39 billion antitrust fine

Microsoft Corp. said Friday that it has appealed a $1.39 billion fine imposed in February by the European Commission for the company's failure to comply with a 2004 antitrust order.

Spokesman Jack Evans said Microsoft filed an application with the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg to annul the commission's decision.

"We are filing this appeal in a constructive effort to seek clarity from the court," Evans said in an e-mailed statement. He declined to elaborate.

The fine had marked the tentative end to a long-running fight between the European Union and Microsoft, triggered by a 1998 complaint by Sun Microsystems Inc. Sun alleged that Microsoft was refusing to supply all the information servers need to work with its market-dominating Windows operating system.

Microsoft later made the information available to rivals, but the EU said it charged "unreasonable prices" until last October. European antitrust regulators have also required the Redmond-based company to sell a version of Windows without media player software.

In all, the company has been fined just under $2.63 billion by European regulators.