Microsoft, which was fined 497 million euros (605 million dollars) in March, is due to appeal for the suspension of the remedies in the ruling at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg from Thursday.

"We obviously think that having to comply really would cause great harm not only to us as a company but to great many others in our industry," said Microsoft chief lawywer Brad Smith.

"But nonetheless if we're ordered to comply we'll be in the position to to do so," he added.

After a marathon competition inquiry, the European Commission found in March that the company had to offer a version of its operating system Windows without its Media Player software offering access to audio and video content.

The commission also required Microsoft to provide competitors with the information they needed to enable their products to communicate with Windows.

The money from the fine has been paid into an escrow account, meaning it is held in trust and neither Microsoft nor the commission has access while the appeal is pending.

Microsoft said it was hopeful for good news for its case from the Luxembourg hearings Friday and Saturday, at which it would seek the suspension of remedies ordered by Brussels pending the outcome of its overall appeal, not expected to be completed for a few years.

"We hope that the court might give us some relief and and we hope there will be a time in the future when again it will be possible to sit down and have face to face discussion," said Smith.

He underlined that Microsoft had long conceded that "people have issues they want to see address", adding: "We are prepared to address them.

"This is not an issue of us saying we hope we win so we don't have to sit down and talk again."

And he added: "We have invested a tremendous amount of time and energy and spent millions of dollars over the past several months, so we will be in a position to comply with whatever the court orders."

aud-ed-mt/hd

All rights reserved. copyright 2018 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.