More EU Woes for Microsoft?
The BBC reports that Microsoft may be facing more antitrust fines in the EU, for not having changed its ways since the large fine imposed in 2004.
The Commission said that Microsoft’s actions constituted the worst breach of an anti-trust ruling in 50 years.
“This is a company which apparently does not like to have to conform with antitrust decisions,” said EU Commission spokesperson Jonathan Todd.
The latest move comes after the Commission not only fined the firm but also ordered the firm to make aversion of Windows available without Media Player software.
“You have to look at their attitude faced with other antitrust authorities in other jurisdictions”
In response, the firm said: “It is hard to see how the Commission can argue that even patented innovation must be made available for free”.
Here is an excerpt from the Commission’s press release:
The European Commission has sent a Statement of Objections (SO) to Microsoft for failing to comply with certain of its obligations under the March 2004 Commission decision (see IP/04/382). Part of that decision found Microsoft to have infringed the EC Treaty rules on abuse of a dominant position (Article 82) by leveraging its near monopoly in the market for PC operating systems onto the market for work group server operating systems. Microsoft therefore had to disclose complete and accurate interface documentation on “reasonable and non-discriminatory terms”, allowing non-Microsoft work group servers to interoperate with Windows PCs and servers. The SO indicates the Commission’s preliminary view that there is no significant innovation in the interoperability information, rejecting as unfounded 1500 pages of submissions by Microsoft from December 2005 onwards, and hence that the prices proposed by Microsoft are unreasonable. Microsoft has four weeks to reply to the SO, after which the Commission may impose a daily penalty for failure to comply with the March 2004 decision. The issue of whether the interoperability information is complete and accurate is still under consideration by the Commission.
Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said, “Microsoft has agreed that the main basis for pricing should be whether its protocols are innovative. The Commission’s current view is that there is no significant innovation in these protocols. I am therefore again obliged to take formal measures to ensure that Microsoft complies with its obligations.”
Another chapter in the strained relationship between the Commission and Microsoft. And it comes on top of the nearly $7 billion Microsoft has paid in antitrust fines and settlements over time.
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