Microsoft has said it will appeal against a record €899m (£681m) fine imposed by the European Commission in February for using high prices to discourage software competition.

The move is part of a long-running battle between the EU and Microsoft which has seen a total of €1.68bn (£1.27bn) of fines levied against the software giant.

"Microsoft today filed to the (EU) Court of First Instance an application to annul the European Commission decision of February 27," the US software giant said in a statement.

The European Commission said in response that it was confident the fine was "legally sound".

The commission imposed the original fine because the US software group had defied a 2004 order from Brussels to provide technical information to competitors which would allow software to be inter-operable.

The commission initially fined Microsoft €497m (£394m) in March 2004.

Microsoft unsuccessfully appealed against that penalty and was also later fined €280.5m (£222m) by the commission for non-compliance with the commission decision.