Microsoft says it will not appeal a December ruling by the European
Court of First Instance that sanctions imposed on the software
company for a breach of antitrust laws should be implemented
immediately.
Microsoft says it will not appeal a December ruling by the European
Court of First Instance that sanctions imposed on the software
company for a breach of antitrust laws should be implemented
immediately.
Microsoft had been hoping to delay implementation until it had
completed its appeal against the original antitrust ruling.
This means that Microsoft now has to disclose details of the
interfaces required for third party products to be able to "talk"
with Windows, to any business wishing to develop and distribute
work group server operating systems.
Microsoft also has to offer for sale in Europe a version of
Windows without Windows Media Player, although it can also market
the operating system with Windows Media Player.
The sanctions are the result of a European Commission ruling in
March 2004. This found that Microsoft broke competition law by
leveraging its near monopoly in the market for PC operating systems
onto the markets for work group server operating systems and for
media players.
Because the illegal behaviour was still ongoing, the Commission
ordered Microsoft to disclose to competitors, within 120 days, the
'specifications' (but not the source code) for its client-to-server
and server-to-server communications protocols.
Microsoft was also required to offer the stripped-down version
of Windows to PC manufacturers and when selling directly to end
users and it was fined €497 million for abusing its market
dominance in the EU.
Microsoft paid the fine into an escrow account in July, where it
will be held until the appeal against the ruling has been resolved.
It then asked the Court of First Instance to suspend the sanctions
until the antitrust appeals process had been completed – a process
that could take up to five years to complete.
In June the Commission confirmed that it would not enforce the
sanctions until the European Court of First Instance had decided
whether a suspension was actually appropriate. The Court issued its
ruling in December, finding that no such suspension was
necessary.
Microsoft, which has been considering its position with regard
to the ruling, announced on Monday that it would not appeal.
The first Media Player-free versions of Windows are due to be
released into EU shops in the next few weeks, for the same price as
the complete version – making it difficult to see why consumers
would choose the reduced version. Microsoft has also published a
web site that details licensing information for the communications
protocols.
The substance of the case, namely Microsoft's original appeal
against the Commission's decision, has still to be heard.
