Microsoft set to battle with Commission over licences

By Anna McLauchlin

Date: 31/03/05

Microsoft may have agreed this week to some of the European Commission's demands for the branding of its Windows operating system without Media Player, but the legal wrangling looks set to continue into April.

The two sides are continuing to battle over the licences for the computer giant's protocols, which would give other companies access to Microsoft specifications allowing computer hardware and operating systems to communicate.

The EU executive is concerned that the licences are too expensive, that there is not enough information allowing companies to choose whether or not they pay for a licence, and that the licences lump all Microsoft's protocols together, preventing other firms from paying just for the part that they need.

Horatio Gutierrez, Microsoft's general counsel for Europe, told European Voice that Microsoft would not implement any rules that might compromise its intellectual property rights.

"Both the Commission decision back in March 2004 and the Court of First Instance in December acknowledged that Microsoft could take steps and include safeguards to preserve its intellectual property rights over these technologies and we would like to make sure that we are able to do that," he said.

The two sides are also trying to come to an agreement on how much power a Commission-appointed trustee will have to monitor the firm's activities. While denying that the computer giant had insisted on a 'veto' on what matters the trustee could examine, Gutierrez said that the trustee's job would have to be "consistent with the Commission's decision" and that discussions would continue in the coming weeks.

Even on the main matter of dispute - the new version of Windows without Media Player - the game is not entirely over. "There are still a few issues open," Gutierrez said, without specifying what they were.

Microsoft sent a letter to the Commission on Monday (28 March) accepting the executive's suggested name for the stripped down version - 'Windows XP Home (or Professional) N'. The N stands for 'not with Media Player'. It also agreed to make changes to the version after some competitors had complained that their media players did not work properly with the new version despite the fact that Media Player had been removed.

For its part, the EU executive, which has demanded a response from Microsoft on the trustee issue by the end of next week and on the protocol by 11 April, has said it will analyse the contents of Microsoft's letter before reacting.

"We see press reports talking of an agreement on the reduced Windows version but we have only just received Microsoft's letter," said one EU official. "And there has been no mention of the other two outstanding issues."

Article reports on the legal dispute between the European Commission and software company Microsoft which was set to continue in April 2005. The European Commission was concerned that the licences for Microsoft's protocols, which would give other companies access to Microsoft specifications allowing computer hardware and operating systems to communicate, were too expensive, that there was not enough information allowing companies to choose whether or not they would pay for a licence, and that the licences lumped all Microsoft's protocols together, preventing other firms from paying just for the part that they needed.