[JURIST] The South Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) [official website] on Monday rejected an appeal of its antitrust decision against Microsoft [corporate website; JURIST news archive]. In December, the KFTC issued a preliminary ruling [JURIST report; KFTC findings, PDF] that Microsoft had abused its dominant market position by bundling its media viewer and instant-messaging software with its Windows operating system. The KFTC fined Microsoft the equivalent of $34 million and ordered it to provide consumers a version of Windows without the bundled software.

A separate appeal [JURIST report; Microsoft press release] of the KFTC ruling is pending in the Seoul High Court. Last week, a US judge extended Microsoft's antitrust settlement with the US Justice Department [JURIST report] by two years, through November 2009. AP has more.