EU Fines Microsoft Record $1.3B

(NEWSER) - The European Union's powerful competition commissioner slapped two energy companies with record fines of $1.53 billion today for cartel misbehavior. GDF Suez and E.ON, two of the world's biggest gas producers, colluded to avoid competition in French and German energy markets and drive up prices. It's the first time that the commission has imposed antitrust fines on an energy company, reports the Wall Street Journal. More»

Nokia, IBM, Oracle join EU antitrust case over Explorer's dominance

(NEWSER) - A technology consortium whose members include IBM, Nokia, and Oracle has joined the European Commission’s antitrust case against Microsoft, the Financial Times reports. The consortium, Ecis, joins Google and the Mozilla Foundation in accusing Microsoft of using Windows to distort the web browser market in favor of Internet Explorer. Ecis member firms will testify against Microsoft, which was notified of the complaint by the EU's executive branch in January. More»

Regulators cite Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft as 'credible' competitors

(NEWSER) - Google acquired ad tracker DoubleClick today after EU regulators approved the $3.1 billion deal, the AP reports. Antitrust officials dismissed concerns about competition, saying Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL also provide “credible” online ad services. The ruling ducked questions of how private data will be handled, an issue that riles privacy advocates on both sides of the pond. More»

But skeptical regulators say it's deja vu from US software giant

(NEWSER) - Microsoft plans to share the secrets of its most popular products, the company announced today, in an effort to satisfy EU regulators who want the software giant to improve its interoperability. The European Commission did cautiously applaud the move, but noted that Microsoft has already made at least four similar statements, to little effect, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»

New investigation comes just months after court victory over company

(NEWSER) - The European Commission today again took aim at Microsoft, launching its first new antitrust investigations since the 1990s. Two probes will expand the principles of the last EU court victory over Microsoft—which a court upheld 4 months ago—to Office, Microsoft’s email tools, and Internet Explorer, reports the Financial Times. More»