Earlier today the court of first instance decided to uphold the European Commission’s decision to fine Microsoft more than 497 million euro. The commission’s decision to fine Microsoft this huge amount of money was based on its findings that Microsoft had infringed on Article 82 of the EC Treaty on two separate types of conduct. The first was the choice of including the Windows Media Player with its operating system Windows. This counts as unfair use of its dominating position, and it lead to that other media player developers were severely hurt.
The second was/is Microsoft server protocols that according to the commission does not uphold enough innovativity relative to the license fees Microsoft charges, nor does Microsoft has the right to withhold the specifications from third-party companies. Microsoft has refused to share information for interoperability, which has forced companies to pay the unreasonable fees, or be left out of the market.
“The Court also considers that the aim pursued by the Commission is to remove the obstacle for Microsoft’s competitors represented by the insufficient degree of interoperability with the Windows domain architecture, in order to enable those competitors to offer work group server operating systems differing from Microsoft’s on important parameters. In that connection, the Court rejects Microsoft’s claims that the degree of interoperability required by the Commission is intended in reality to enable competing work group server operating systems to function in every respect like a Windows system and, accordingly, to enable Microsoft’s competitors to clone or reproduce its products.”
Microsoft’s decided to appeal the fine, but was turned down. But the court didn’t uphold all parts of the commission’s decision. It annulled the decision to set up a monitoring trustee, simply because there is no legal basis for it.
The press release can found HERE.
Several companies have come out and been very positive of the court’s decision to uphold the fine. The decision makes it clear that Microsoft needs to share the specifications of its interoperability protocols for its servers, making it easier to communicate and share information between Windows-based operating systems and other OSes.
“Today’s decision by the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg in the Microsoft matter is great news for innovation and consumer choice, both in Europe and around the world. The Court has confirmed that competition law prevents a monopolist from simply using its control of the market to lock in customers and stifle new competitors,” said Matthew Szulik, Chairman and CEO of Red Hat. “In our business interoperability information is critically important and cannot simply be withheld to exclude all competition. Given Red Hat’s firm belief that competition, not questionable patent and trade secret claims, drives innovation and creates greater consumer value, we were pleased with the overall decision and look forward to examining the decision in greater detail. Red Hat would like to congratulate the European Commission, and particularly Commissioner Neelie Kroes and her services, for their persistence and courage in bringing this matter to a successful result.”
