posted
Judge to rule against Microsoft in European case
Microsoft unlikely to be appealing
By INQUIRER staff: Wednesday 22 December 2004, 10:05 THE COURT of First Instance will rule that Microsoft will have to immediately comply with a verdict passed earlier by the European Union, the Wall St Journal is reporting.
That means that Microsoft will not only have to produce code for its competitors, but also to make a version of Windows without the Media Player it bundles with the OS.
The European Union also fined the Vole €497 million when it released its verdict in March this year.
Microsoft could still appeal against the ruling, but it's unlikely to do so, the newspaper said.
The Vole had hoped that the fact Microsoft settled with Novell and the Computer and Communications Industry Association would affect judge Bo Vesterdorf's verdict.
But that was a slim hope, because the ruling against Microsoft wasn't based just on the complaints of the firm's industry partners, but on the effect the software giant's practices had on the entire trade and computer network. µ
* MICROSOFT issued an official statement. It said it is reviewing the Court's decision. It claims the judge's ruling provides some hope for Microsoft. Some of its arguments were well founded. The code removal remedy is harmful to consumers, it believes, leading it to release a "degraded" version of its OS. It hasn't decided on the next steps it will take. The full statement is here , on the Microsoft site.
posted
EU upholds penalties against Microsoft Published: December 22, 2004, 5:40 AM PST By Dawn Kawamoto and Ina Fried Staff Writer, CNET News.com
update
A European court on Wednesday dealt a blow to Microsoft, ordering the company to start offering a version of Windows without a bundled-in media player.
Bo Vesterdorf, president of the European Court of First Instance, said that Microsoft must comply with penalties imposed by the European Commission even as the company's appeal wends its way through the system.
The Commission ruled in March that the software giant used its monopoly in operating systems to try to manipulate the markets for media players and work group server operating systems. It ordered the company to offer a version of Windows without its bundled media player and to share more technical detail with rivals--orders that will now go into effect.
"The evidence adduced by Microsoft is not sufficient to show that implementation of the remedies imposed by the Commission might cause serious and irreparable damage," the court said in a statement.
Microsoft hasn't yet decided whether it will appeal the ruling, general counsel Brad Smith said during a conference call on Wednesday. Any appeal would have to be lodged with the president of the European Court of Justice within the next two months.
"We don't know whether we will appeal. I don't think it will take two months, but I think we should take enough time to decide whether to do that," he said.
Smith told reporters he remained optimistic that the company still had a good chance to win out on the merits of the case.
"The court nonetheless recognized we have a number of arguments that are important and will need to be weighed seriously and could well win at the end of the day," he said. He later added that "I'm not suggesting that victory is guaranteed but there's clearly cause for optimism as we see the litigation path moving forward."
For instance, "the court recognizes there's an important question in respect to Microsoft's argument that the commission should have given more weight to the positive affects (of the combination)," he said.
Smith said that the company would act immediately to begin addressing the ruling, setting up a Web site later Wednesday so that the company's competitors will be able to begin licensing various communications protocols specified in the ruling.
While some of Microsoft's protocols are already available for licensing, the ruling covers a new category of communication protocols in the Windows server.
Smith said the company does have some experience with this, pointing to the company's consent decree with the United States government.
The company will also continue working on a special version of Windows, excluding Media Player, for the European market. That product should be available for manufacturers in January, and work its way through to resellers by February. Microsoft said the pricing should be the same as existing versions of Windows.
Analysts said they see little demand from either consumers or computer makers for a version of Windows without Media Player. But the decision could establish a dangerous legal precident that could ultimately affect how Microsoft builds future products.
Smith said the costs of implementing the remedy would not be significant for a company of Microsoft's size, adding that developers had been working on the alternative version of Windows for several months. If Microsoft eventually wins the underlying case, the company will be able to withdraw the product from the market, but Smith said Microsoft had not specifically addressed how they would do that.
Microsoft had already covered the monetary portion of the penalties, depositing $600 million in an escrow account. The other requirements were temporarily suspended after the company requested an emergency stay.
Settlement a possibility Microsoft on Wednesday also held out hope that the ruling could lead to renewed settlement talks.
"We are hopeful that the issues highlighted by the Court will create an opportunity for the parties to discuss settlement," Microsoft said in a statement. "As we have always stated, we believe that there are better ways to address such complex and technical issues, with a minimum of harm to European consumers and the European technology sector."
Microsoft had engaged in settlement talks just before the European Commission ruled in the spring, but the talks broke off.
In its U.S. antitrust case, the company eventually reached a
