Group Asks EC for Restraints on Microsoft
Claiming that the latest version of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows software hinders competition, several major high-tech firms have asked European regulators to place tough antitrust restraints on the software giant.
The Computer and Communications Industry Assn., a Washington-based trade group, said this week that it filed a confidential complaint with the European Commission on Jan. 31 on behalf of cell phone giant Nokia Corp., computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc., media conglomerate AOL Time Warner Inc. and other technology firms.
“There’s nothing new in the complaint,” said Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler. “It contains the same arguments that were made by our competitors in the U.S. proceedings, arguments that were soundly rejected by the U.S. court after a thorough and exhaustive review.”
The 260-page European complaint focuses on Microsoft’s latest flagship computer operating system, Windows XP, which bundles an array of software applications that had been pioneered by rivals.
The bundled products include the Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browser, the Windows Media Player, instant messaging software, an e-mail application and the Windows Movie Maker video editor.
CCIA asked the EC to force Microsoft to unbundle those applications and refrain from future bundling. The group also asked regulators to bar Microsoft from offering discounts to favored customers. It also requested that Microsoft disclose information necessary for outside software developers to make software that is compatible with Microsoft’s products.
The CCIA alleged that inclusion of the products in Windows, which runs more than 90% of all personal computers, violates a provision of European antitrust law that obligates companies with strong market dominance to preserve competition. The European standard is somewhat less rigorous than in the United States, where the Redmond, Wash., company eluded significant limits on its business practices in an antitrust case that ended in November.
“Windows XP is the culmination of all of Microsoft’s previous anti-competitive practices,” said CCIA President Ed Black.
The CCIA complaint could expose Microsoft to its most significant antitrust risk yet, because Europe is a larger software market than the U.S. Many experts see the complaint, at the very least, prolonging the more than decade-long antitrust scrutiny Microsoft has faced since first being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission.
Some experts think the antitrust case against Microsoft is strong enough -- and European concern about competition widespread enough -- that Microsoft could be vulnerable.
“I think the EC is looking for an opportunity to distinguish itself from the U.S. on the Microsoft case,” said Jeffrey A. Eisenach, executive vice chairman of CapAnalysis, a Washington-based economic consulting firm. “The merits of the cases are pretty strong. And Microsoft’s conduct has generally tended to cross the line. For [EC Competition Commissioner Mario Monti], this may look like an easy call.”
