update After a three-year legal battle, the European Union's Court of First Instance has upheld the 2004 European Commission antitrust decision against Microsoft.
According to a press statement released by the software giant, the EU court has upheld decisions concerning interoperability and the bundling of Windows Media Player.
The Commission's March 2004 order against Microsoft included a US$613 million fine, and determinations that the company engaged in a number of anticompetitive practices. These included charges that Microsoft had stifled competition by bundling its Media Player with its Windows operating system, and failed to provide adequate interoperability protocol information to competitors.
While today's ruling is final, an appeal--limited to matters of law--may be brought before the EU's Court of Justice, within two months, against a decision of the Court of First Instance, Microsoft outlined in its statement.
In recent years, the Commission has aggressively pursued or investigated other technology industry titans, including chip maker Intel, which faced allegations the company wooed customers with marketing dollars in exchange for their exclusive use of Intel chips. The Commission also took on mobile-phone chip maker Qualcomm over antitrust issues surrounding its patents for its 3G chipsets, and recently began an antitrust review of Google's proposed US$3.1 billion acquisition of online ad company DoubleClick.
Given the Commission's fearlessness in taking on major technology companies over competitive issues, a major defeat in court may leave it with the "wind taken out of its sails", Thomas Vinje, an antitrust attorney with Clifford Chance in Europe, had said before today's ruling was announced. The Commission, as a result, may temper the pace and energy with which it pursues cases, he added.
But legal observers say it is doubtful European regulators will suddenly go on a rampage and pursue marginal antitrust cases, following Microsoft's failed appeal.
"The effect of a really big loss would be greater than the effect of a really big win for the Commission," Vinje said.
The US$613 million fine called for in the March 2004 order was increased by US$357 million last year, after the Commission alleged the software giant had not complied with its original ruling. The Court of First Instance will also issue a decision on the multimillion-dollar fines.
The court's decision is also expected to have some effect on the Commission's view toward other Microsoft products it is currently investigating, such as the Vista operating system, said Michael Reynolds, an antitrust attorney with Allan & Overy in Europe. The software giant announced in October that it made changes to Vista to accommodate concerns raised by antitrust regulators in Europe and South Korea.
"There already has been some intervention by the Commission," Reynolds said. "But everyone wants to see what the court says, before [finalizing] negotiations with the Commission."
While the court's ruling may have an effect on how antitrust cases are addressed by the EC, one legal expert said it is unlikely Google, Intel, Rambus or Qualcomm will be affected by the Microsoft decision next week.
Google's market share is far lower than that of Microsoft and no barriers exist to prevent users from migrating to another search engine, said Maurits Dolmans, an antitrust attorney with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in Europe.
And while Intel chips are in a majority of all computers, it has a rival, Advanced Micro Devices, and allegations that the chip maker engaged in predatory pricing in Europe are far different from the issue Microsoft is facing over bundling its Media Player and the interoperability of its server protocols, said Dolmans.
Eileen Yu of ZDNet Asia contributed to this article.
Play video
There are currently no comments for this post.