Microsoft said on Thursday it would contest what it called an unjustified European Commission decision to impose backdated daily fines if it fails to comply with European Union antitrust sanctions. The U.S. software giant said it had obeyed the Commission"s landmark March 2004 decision ordering it to change its business practices but the EU executive kept making new demands and the latest one went beyond the European regulator"s powers.
"We have now responded to more than 100 requests from the Commission. We continue working quickly to meet the Commission"s new and changing demands. Yet every time we make a change, we find that the Commission moves the goal post and demands another change," said Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith.