United States software giant Microsoft on Monday appealed a ruling by South Korea’s anti-trust watchdog ordering it to strip popular software from its Windows operating systems.
The appeal, lodged with the Seoul High Court, was aimed at ”seeking revocation” of South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) decision, the US firm said in a statement.
”Microsoft continues to believe that its actions are consistent with Korean law and have benefited Korean consumers and the Korean technology industry,” it said.
In its final verdict last month, the FTC reaffirmed a preliminary ruling against Microsoft while slightly revising downwards the fine on the US firm to 32,4-billion won ($32,8-million) from 33-billion won.
In a preliminary ruling in December, the anti-trust body said that Microsoft had abused its market dominance and violated fair trade rules by bundling software tools in Windows. It ordered Microsoft to unbundle its Media Player and instant messaging tools from Windows.
Microsoft must sell two versions of its Windows operating system — one stripped of Media Player and Messenger, and the other carrying links to web pages for downloading competing versions of such software.
Denying any wrongdoing, Microsoft warned of the negative impacts the FTC decision would have on South Korea’s IT industry, noted for its innovations, by limiting local access to some of its software.
”The restrictions imposed here would limit such innovations and also hamper Korea’s ability to continue to be a world-class IT innovator,” Jae Hoon Chung, senior attorney for Microsoft, said in the statement.
Microsoft complained that South Korean anti-trust regulations ”are more extreme than those required by the European Commission”.
The attorney rejected a FTC claim that the US company was abusing its market dominance against Korean consumers. ”Consumers can easily download and use a wide range of software from many different companies,” he added.
Microsoft has been locked in a string of costly disputes with its key rivals in the United States, South Korea and Europe.
In October, Microsoft agreed to pay $761-million to RealNetworks, a US firm marketing the ”RealPlayer” audio-visual software.
Microsoft also sealed a $30-million deal with South Korea’s top internet portal Daum in November to end a legal battle over the bundling of Messenger with Windows.
The European Commission ruled in March 2004 that Microsoft should sell its Windows system without the Media Player software to ensure fair competition with European rivals.
In the 2004 anti-trust ruling, the US company was also fined a record €497-million ($588-million) for abuse of its market position.
In a continued legal battle, Microsoft is seeking to have the ruling annulled in an appeal due to go before the European Court of First Instance, the EU’s second-highest court, in the last week of April. – AFP