Microsoft Withdraws Two Remaining Appeals with the Court of First Instance

Microsoft Corporation today withdrew the two remaining appeals that the company had pending at the European Court of First Instance.

“We believe it’s important at this stage to focus all of our energies on complying with our legal obligations and strengthening our constructive relationship with the European Commission,” said Erich Andersen, European General Counsel for Microsoft.

In a letter to the Registrar of the Court of First Instance, filed Wednesday afternoon, Microsoft formally discontinued its appeal in Case T-271/06, in which the company was seeking to annul the € 280,500,000 fine imposed by the Commission in July 2006 over Microsoft’s documentation of its communications protocols. Microsoft paid the fine in October 2006.

Microsoft also informed the Registrar that the company is discontinuing its appeal in Case T-313/05, which sought to annul the Commission’s order that Microsoft license its trade secrets on an open source basis. Company officials said that this appeal was moot given the steps Microsoft is taking to enable use of its protocols by open source developers, as announced by the Commission on October 22.

For any further information please contact:

Tom Brookes, +32 2 238 1093, tombrookes@gpluseurope.com

Jesse Verstraete, +32 2 550 0637, jesse.verstraete@microsoft.com