Judgment of the General Court of 27 June 2012 - Microsoft v Commission
(Case T-167/08)
(Competition - Abuse of dominant position - Client PC operating systems - Work group server operating systems - Refusal of the dominant undertaking to supply and authorise the use of interoperability information - Fulfilment of obligations under a decision finding an infringement and imposing behavioural measures - Periodic penalty payment)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicant: Microsoft Corp. (Redmond, Washington, United States) (represented by: J.-F. Bellis, lawyer, and I. Forrester QC)
Defendant: European Commission (represented by: T. Christoforou, V. Di Bucci, F. Castillo de la Torre and N. Khan, acting as Agents)
Interveners in support of the applicant: The Computing Technology Industry Association, Inc., (Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, United States) (represented by: G. van Gerven and T. Franchoo, lawyers); and Association for Competitive Technology, Inc., (Washington DC, United States) (represented: initially by D. Went and H. Pearson, Solicitors and subsequently by H. Mercer QC)
Interveners in support of the defendant: Free Software Foundation Europe eV, (Hamburg, Germany) and Samba Team (New York, New York, United States) (represented by: C. Piana and T. Ballarino, lawyers), Software & Information Industry Association (Washington DC) (represented by: T. Vinje and D. Dakanalis, Solicitors, and A. Tomtsis, lawyer), European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS), (Brussels, Belgium) (represented by: T. Vinje, Solicitor, and M. Dolmans, N. Dodoo and A. Ferti, lawyers), International Business Machines Corp., (Armonk, New York, United States) (represented by: M. Dolmans and T. Graf, lawyers), Red Hat Inc. (Wilmington, Delaware, United States) (represented by C.-D. Ehlermann and S. Völcker, lawyers and C. O'Daly, Solicitor), and Oracle Corp., (Redwood Shores, California, United States), (represented by: T. Vinje, Solicitor and D. Paemen, lawyer)
Re:
Application for annulment of Commission Decision C(2008) 764 final of 27 February 2008 fixing the definitive amount of the periodic penalty payment imposed on Microsoft Corp. by Decision C(2005) 4420 final (Case COMP/C-3/37.792 - Microsoft) and, in the alternative, cancellation or reduction of the periodic penalty payment imposed on the applicant in that decision
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Fixes the amount of the periodic penalty payment imposed on Microsoft Corp. in Article 1 of Commission Decision C(2008) 764 final of 27 February 2008 fixing the definitive amount of the periodic penalty payment imposed on Microsoft Corp. by Decision C(2005) 4420 final (Case COMP/C-3/37.792 - Microsoft) at EUR 860 million;
Orders Microsoft to bear its own costs and to pay 95% of the costs incurred by the European Commission, excluding the costs incurred by the Commission in connection with the intervention of The Computing Technology Industry Association, Inc. and the Association for Competitive Technology, Inc., and 80% of the costs incurred by the Free Software Foundation Europe eV and Samba Team, the Software & Information Industry Association, the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, International Business Machines Corp., Red Hat Inc. and Oracle Corp.;
Orders the Commission to bear 5% of its own costs, with the exception of the costs incurred in connection with the intervention of The Computing Technology Industry Association and the Association for Competitive Technology;
Orders The Computing Technology Industry Association and the Association for Competitive Technology each to bear their own costs including those incurred by the Commission in connection with their intervention;
Orders the Free Software Foundation Europe and Samba Team, the Software & Information Industry Association, the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, International Business Machines, Red Hat and Oracle to bear 20% of their own costs.
____________1 - OJ C 171, 5.7.2008.