| Author (Person) | McLauchlin, Anna |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.12, No.14, 20.4.06 |
| Publication Date | 20/04/2006 |
| Content Type | News |
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Date: 20/04/06 US computer software company Microsoft will confront its competitors at the European Court of First Instance (CFI) in a week-long hearing starting on Monday (24 April) and will argue that demands made by the European Commission infringe its intellectual property rights. The IT giant is hoping that the judges of the court in Luxembourg will overturn the landmark ruling from the Commission in March 2004, which imposed a record-breaking fine of 497 million euro. The Commission ruled that Microsoft had abused its monopoly by failing to give competitors enough information to create software that could run with Windows software and by bundling programs such as Windows Media player and Internet explorer into Windows. According to the CFI's report on the hearing, Microsoft will argue that it has complied with the Commission's demands in making its systems as accessible as possible, but that its 'communication protocols' - which contain the information needed by other software developers - are "valuable trade secrets" that should be protected by intellectual property law and as such the company should not have to disclose them. "Microsoft raises a number of considerations in support of its argument that its communication protocols are protected by intellectual property rights," the report reads. One lawyer close to the case defended Microsoft's position. "Intellectual property rights are by definition monopoly rights," he said. "That's not to say that a company with intellectual property rights cannot commit abuse, but that its conduct may be justifiable even though it is anti-competitive." In its arguments, the Commission claims that the protocols it has asked Microsoft to reveal do not contain innovations, that the company has not revealed enough information to make its systems interoperable and is therefore still abusing its market dominance. It says: "Nothing in the file shows that the communication protocols in relation to which Microsoft will have to disclose specifications contain innovations. In any event, it has not been established that those innovations have been patented." A lawyer for Microsoft's competitors said that the company was trying to use the intellectual property argument as a distraction from the fact that Microsoft was abusing the market dominance of its Windows software, which is used in more than 90% of personal computers worldwide. "Microsoft is on very weak ground both on the facts and in law, so it's trying to turn this into a case that it's not," he said. "But if the judges fall for that ploy then who knows what might happen?" Microsoft will also argue that there is sufficient competition in the market and that its competitors have not asked for the information that the Commission has asked it to disclose. Microsoft is supported by ten companies and organisations, including the Washington-based Association for Competitive Technology, which represents around 3,000 software developers and digital rights management software developers DMDsecure.com of the Netherlands and the Swedish firm MPS Broadband. The Commission's four allies include the Free Software Foundation Europe, which represents open-source program developers, and the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, a group of Microsoft competitors including IBM, Oracle and Sun Microsystems. Bo Vesterdorf, the president of the Court of First Instance, will preside over the hearing. The outcome of the hearing is expected sometime in 2007. In the meantime the Commission is threatening to impose a 2 million euro daily fine on Microsoft for failing to supply its communication protocol, which would be retroactive to 15 December. Microsoft this week suffered a setback in its attempt to use courts in the US to oblige its commercial rivals to disclose their communications with the European Commission. On Tuesday (18 April) a Boston district court refused a request from Microsoft to order disclosure from the US software firm Novell. The judge said that allowing the subpoena would "circumvent and undermine the law of the European Community". A Californian judge had earlier rejected similar demands by Microsoft for rivals Oracle and Sun Microsystems to hand over documents. A New York court has still to rule on a request for information from IBM. Article anticipates a week-long hearing at the European Court of First Instance (CFI), starting on 24 April 2006, in which US computer software company Microsoft was to confront its competitors and was expected to argue that demands made by the European Commission infringe its intellectual property rights. |
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| Source Link | Link to Main Source http://www.european-voice.com/ |
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| Subject Categories | Internal Markets |
| Countries / Regions | Europe |
