Microsoft, EU regulators in showdown
Starting on Monday, an army of lawyers and technical experts will defend the global market leader’s commercial practices, which the European Commission and its competitors argue thwart competition.
The trial, taking place over five days at the Luxembourg-based European Court of First Instance, opens a new chapter in the seven-year standoff between Microsoft and the European Union EU competition watchdog and holds high stakes for both sides.
Microsoft wants the 13 judges hearing the case to overturn a landmark 2004 anti-trust ruling by the commission, in what would be a painful blow to EU regulators’ authority.
The EU commission slapped a fine of 497 million euros (612 million dollars) on the group in a March 2004 anti-trust decision for abusing its dominant market position.
The European competition watchdog also ordered Microsoft to sell a version of its widely-used Windows operating system unbundled from its Media Player software and to divulge information on its operating system needed by makers of rival products.
But Microsoft wants to cast the case as a farther-reaching trial about how far companies can go to defend their intellectual property rights.
"At issue are whether companies can improve their products by developing new features, and whether a successful company must hand over its valuable intellectual property to competitors," Microsoft said in a statement ahead of the trial.
"There is healthy competition and interoperability in all the markets covered in this case and we will bring those facts to the court next week," it added.
In the face of Microsoft’s defiance, Brussels remains confident that its March 2004 ruling is solidly grounded. "We have every faith that our March 2004 decision will be respected," said commission spokesman for competition issues Jonathan Todd.
Long-simmering tensions flared up lately as Brussels grew increasingly impatient for Microsoft to comply with the 2004 decision, and in December it threatened to slap a daily fine of up to two million euros a day on the group.
Seeking to allay the EU concerns, Microsoft says that it has offered more than the commission has asked for by promising to reveal millions of lines of Windows computer code for rivals.
Microsoft has spared no cost for the court case and has even enlisted former judges from the court to hold mock trials so that its lawyers are well prepared.
Facing Microsoft’s considerable legal team, the commission is counting on its three lawyers to defend its position, backed up by lawyers representing rival companies such as IBM, Oracle, Sun Microsystems.
Competition law professor Damien Geradin said that the court’s decision, which is not expected until the end of this year or the beginning of next year, could have huge implications for the commission.
"If the commission loses this case, it will have to review the way it handles abuse of dominant market positions," he said.
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