The European Commission fined Microsoft a massive 899 million ($1.3 billion) for continued failure to honor the 2004 antitrust ruling against it, Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes said Wednesday. Europe's top competition authority has already fined the company 777.5 million -- 497 million in the original ruling plus a further 280.5 million for noncompliance.
The latest punishment brings the total of fines to just under 1.7 billion ($2.6 billion) "for a clear disregard of its legal obligations," Kroes said in a news conference. "The Commission's latest fine is a reasonable response to unreasonable actions by Microsoft," Kroes said. Microsoft finally came into compliance with the 2004 ruling last October. Kroes said the latest fine -- the biggest yet -- is for non-compliance up to Oct. 22, 2007.

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