Microsoft Appeals Second EU Fine

As expected, Microsoft said Tuesday it has appealed a July fine by the European Commission with the Court of First Instance, the European Union's second highest court. It accuses the EC of prolonging the case while the Redmond company attempted to comply with the ruling.

Microsoft vowed to appeal after the EC handed down the 280.5 million euro fine on July 12. Before that ruling, he regulatory body had never fined a company before for failure to comply with an earlier order.

"When you consider Microsoft's massive efforts to comply with this ruling, and the fact that more than a dozen companies are already using similar documentation provided in the U.S. to ship actual products, we do not believe this fine is justified," the company said at the time.

The appeal asks the court to rule whether or not the Commission was correct in asserting that Microsoft had failed to provide adequate technical documentation by the EU's deadline. It also called the additional fine unfair, and blasted the EC for being vague as to what it was requesting.

Microsoft has already appealed the landmark 2004 antitrust decision against it with the Court of First Instance. A ruling in that case is not expected until next year, however.