[JURIST] Microsoft [corporate website] announced Wednesday that it has filed a lawsuit against the European Commission in the European Court of First Instance [official website] over the "issue of broad licences for the source code of communications protocols." The lawsuit comes as part of the fallout from a 2004 European Commission decision [PDF text; press release], where Microsoft was fined $613 million and ordered to unbundle its media player from the Windows operating system and provide source code to competitors. Microsoft has previously challenged the Commission's decision and unsuccessfully attempted to get the court to suspend the sanctions. A Microsoft spokesman said the company's new lawsuit was filed as a "result of the agreement reached with the Commission in June to put this particular issue to the court for guidance and to avoid any further delay in the process." Microsoft has case materials and updates on its implementation of the Commission's decision. Reuters has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper chase...

• Microsoft meets EU deadline for antitrust proposals
• EU to Microsoft: meet deadline or face sanctions
• Microsoft complies with EU antitrust ruling, offers source code to competitors
• EU rejects Microsoft plan to comply with antitrust sanctions
• EU judge upholds antitrust sanctions against Microsoft
• Microsoft hit with record EU antitrust fine