appeal

A European court has upheld a $1 billion fine on Microsoft, originally imposed four years ago. The penalty was punishment for Microsoft refusing to share vital information with rival software developers. Microsoft's financial problems with the ... European Union date back to 2004, when it was fined 497 million euros for abusing its market position. That case was based on the conflict of interests arising from Microsoft producing both an operating system (Windows) and individual applications (such as Word and other Office products). Microsoft Accused of Hiding Information At the time, officials ... (view more)

Microsoft has launched a new feature for its Bing search engine that displays results as images rather than a list of websites. While the images are attractive, its appeal is likely to be limited. This isn't the same feature as the image search ... options available on most major websites, including Bing (which was recently accused of using explicit language to attract visitors). Those look specifically for images which best match the search term. Instead, the image results involve displaying specific categories of information in a visual form. For example, somebody searching for information on ... (view more)

It appears Microsoft's threats that last month's injunction against its popular Word software could deliver "irreparable harm" to the company has paid off. A U.S. Court of Appeals judge has granted the Redmond-based firm a stay of the injunction ... pending appeal, meaning it won't have to pull the software off store shelves by early October. Last month a Texas federal judge ordered Microsoft to halt resale of Word, a key component of its Microsoft Office suite, unless it removed important XML features whose patent is owned by Canadian company i4i. Microsoft had been ordered to stop selling Word ... (view more)

As the release of Windows 7 fast approaches, much of the tech industry has been neatly distracted by Microsoft's patent dispute with Canadian company i4i. The Redmond-based firm isn't about to lay down and accept a recent judgment barring its resale ... of its popular Word software -- instead, it's readying for a late September hearing it hopes will change its fortunes. Problems began for Microsoft two weeks ago now when a Texas federal judge ordered Microsoft to stop selling its Word software so long as it included XML functions whose patent is owned by Toronto company i4i. Tech Industry Faces ' ... (view more)

The defendant found guilty of file-sharing in her case against the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) has decided to appeal. Hey, if you were a single mother facing a $222,000 fine, what would you do? The decision stems from the story I ... reported a few days ago, in which one Jammie Thomas was staring down the full weight of the RIAA. Since then, Thomas has been found guilty and ordered to pay the $200,000-plus fine, representing almost ten thousand dollars for each of the 24 songs she illegally downloaded and shared on now-defunct protocol Kazaa. (Source: pcworld.com ) The RIAA ... (view more)

On September 17, the European Court of First Instance will present its verdict in Microsoft Corporation's antitrus appeal. The appeal, which has taken more than three years to render an outcome, relates to Microsoft's mistreatment of its ... competitors. "By bundling Windows Media Player, its audio and video playing software, into Windows, Microsoft competed unfairly against rivals such as Real Networks Inc. and Apple Inc., the Commission ruled. And by failing to share technical information about how to interoperate with Windows PCs, Microsoft managed to steal a march in the market for low-end ... (view more)