Microsoft withdraws appeal against antitrust rule violation

Posted on : 2007-10-16 14:21 KST Modified on : 2007-10-16 14:21 KST

Microsoft Corp. has withdrawn its appeal against an antitrust ruling here that fined the global software giant for breach of fair competition regulations and ordered the separate sale of bundled programs from its Windows operating system, a court official said Tuesday.

In February 2006, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) fined Microsoft 33 billion won (US$35 million) and ordered it to separate the MSN instant messenger and Media Player programs from its Windows operating system.

The commission also ruled that Microsoft sell two versions of its Windows operating system -- one without the Media Player and MSN messenger programs and the other bundled with the two programs.

Microsoft brought the case to the Seoul High Court the following month, but recently dropped it, the official said, noting the case comes to an end unless the FTC takes action to continue the appeals court trial.

Sentencing was originally set for Wednesday.

The software giant recently lost an appeals court case to overturn a similar antitrust ruling by the European Commission that imposed a record fine of $690 million for its breach of anti-trust law.

SEOUL, Oct 16 (Yonhap)