Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is silhouetted as he walks on stage to deliver a speech. (File Photo)

The European Commission warned on Thursday that Microsoft would face new fines worth multi-million euros per day if the company continues to disobey its 2004 antitrust decision.

"In the 50 years of European antitrust policy, it's the first time we've been confronted with a company that has failed to comply with an antitrust decision," the European Commission's competition spokesman Jonathan Todd said.

According to the Commission's recent findings, the U.S. software giant still failed to comply with certain of its obligations under an antitrust ruling made by the European Union's antitrust watchdog three years ago.

The ruling requires Microsoft to disclose complete and accurate interface documentation on "reasonable and non-discriminatory terms", allowing its competitors to interoperate with its Windows PCs and servers.

The disclosure is not for free. In return, Microsoft can charge competitors according to the level of innovation in the information disclosed through licenses.

But the Commission found that Microsoft's royalty rates for the information were "unreasonably" high because the company exaggerated its innovative content, so no rival had signed up yet for the protocol licenses.

"Microsoft has agreed that the main basis for pricing should be whether its protocols are innovative. The commission's current view is that there is no significant innovation in these protocols," the EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a statement.

In a Statement of Objections sent to Microsoft on Thursday, the European Commission gave the company four weeks to reply. After that period, the Commission may impose fines as high as three million euros per day if its concerns are not satisfied.

The Commission imposed on Microsoft last July another daily fines totaling 280.5 million euros over a sixth-month period, based on the same conclusion that the company failed to fully respect its 2004 ruling.

In its landmark decision three years ago, the European Commission found Microsoft violated the EU competition law for abuse of its dominant position and fined the company a record 497 million euros.

Microsoft is contesting the Commission's 2004 ruling at the EU's Court of First Instance which is due to decide on the case in the first half of this year.

Editor: Donald