[JURIST] The European Court of First Instance ruled Wednesday that antitrust penalties against Microsoft should be upheld as the computer giant appeals the European Commission's ruling from March. According to the ruling by Judge Bo Vesterdorf, Microsoft did not demonstrate that "it might suffer serious and irreparable damage as a result of the implementation of the contested decision." Read the court's full ruling and a court press release [PDF]. Microsoft has a statement on the ruling as well. The March ruling, which found Microsoft in violation of antitrust laws, ordered the company to offer a version of Windows without its own MediaPlayer software and to offer rivals information about its operating system so they can create software compatible with Windows. As a result, Microsoft has said it will comply with the order as it appeals that ruling, a process that could take up to four or five years. BBC News has background on the EU case against Microsoft. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Microsoft. The Financial Times has more.