Monday, September 17, 2007
Microsoft suffered a major setback in Europe as the Luxembourg-based European Court of First Instance rejected almost all the substantive arguments in its its appeal to annul the antitrust decision made in 2004 by the European Commission.
The Commission found in that case that Microsoft abused its dominant position in the PC software market by failing to make its products compatible with those of rivals, and by bundling software products together with its core operating system software. It fined the company 497 million euros, ($613 million) , and a further 280.5 million Euros last July for failing to comply.
The decision of the Court Monday (Sept. 17) marks the culmination of a nine-year dispute between Microsoft and European regulators that could have a significant influence on EU competition law.
"This is a great day for European businesses and consumers. At long last, the decision opens the prospect for dynamic competition in the software industry. No more user lock-in, no more monopoly pricing," said Thomas Vinje, the lawyer representing Ecis, a group which includes IBM, Nokia, Oracle and Sun Microsystems.
By: DocMemory
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