EU court to deliver ruling on Microsoft appeal
Microsoft Corp faces a key decision Monday as it finds out whether Europe's second-highest court will grant an appeal of its landmark antitrust conviction,a decision that could change the landscape for competition in Europe and, perhaps, the world.
By Agencies |
LUXEMBOURG: Microsoft Corp faces a key decision Monday as it finds out whether Europe's second-highest court will grant an appeal of its landmark antitrust conviction,a decision that could change the landscape for competition in Europe and, perhaps, the world.
The 13 judges of the Court of First Instance, led by Bo Vesterdorf _ on his last day on the job _ will either uphold a European Commission order from 2004 and a resulting euro497 million (US$613 million) fine or find for Microsoft.
An affirmation is likely to embolden regulators as they pursue probes of Intel Corp., Rambus Inc. and Qualcomm Inc., among others.
But a victory for Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft could turn the regulatory landscape upside down, curbing the ambitions of European officials who have recently taken a more aggressive stance against alleged monopolists than regulators in the United States.
The case started in the 1990s with complaints from Microsoft rivals about how the software giant used its presence on most desktop computers to elbow into new markets and block competitors. But it's also always been about something more _ nothing less than the role of Europeans in the regulation of U.S. companies.
Microsoft was accused of deliberately refusing to supply server protocols that would help the server computers that manage groups of desktops communicate with them and with other equipment such as printers. This made Microsoft's own server software more attractive to customers because it would always work with Windows _ while rival offers might not.
The company said this code is protected by patents and it shouldn't be forced to hand it over to sore losers who should find their own ways of engineering link-ups with Windows.
But the EU alleges that this is antitrust abuse, an attempt to kill off server rivals so it could grow market share to what Microsoft says is now around 70 percent. To fix the problem it ordered Microsoft to hand over the goods _ and fined them when it wasn't happy with the technical manual Microsoft prepared, warning of more fines because the company was overcharging rivals for the patents.
The second part of the case turns on Microsoft's move into media software in the 1990s when it gave away Windows Media Player with every copy of Windows.
The 13 judges of the Court of First Instance, led by Bo Vesterdorf _ on his last day on the job _ will either uphold a European Commission order from 2004 and a resulting euro497 million (US$613 million) fine or find for Microsoft.
An affirmation is likely to embolden regulators as they pursue probes of Intel Corp., Rambus Inc. and Qualcomm Inc., among others.
But a victory for Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft could turn the regulatory landscape upside down, curbing the ambitions of European officials who have recently taken a more aggressive stance against alleged monopolists than regulators in the United States.
The case started in the 1990s with complaints from Microsoft rivals about how the software giant used its presence on most desktop computers to elbow into new markets and block competitors. But it's also always been about something more _ nothing less than the role of Europeans in the regulation of U.S. companies.
Microsoft was accused of deliberately refusing to supply server protocols that would help the server computers that manage groups of desktops communicate with them and with other equipment such as printers. This made Microsoft's own server software more attractive to customers because it would always work with Windows _ while rival offers might not.
ADVERTISEMENT
The company said this code is protected by patents and it shouldn't be forced to hand it over to sore losers who should find their own ways of engineering link-ups with Windows.
But the EU alleges that this is antitrust abuse, an attempt to kill off server rivals so it could grow market share to what Microsoft says is now around 70 percent. To fix the problem it ordered Microsoft to hand over the goods _ and fined them when it wasn't happy with the technical manual Microsoft prepared, warning of more fines because the company was overcharging rivals for the patents.
The second part of the case turns on Microsoft's move into media software in the 1990s when it gave away Windows Media Player with every copy of Windows.
Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
ADVERTISEMENT
