Judge Rejects Microsoft Request to Get Letters

A federal judge rejected a bid by Microsoft Corp. to get letters that might help it fight European Union antitrust allegations and avoid more than $2 million in daily fines.

Microsoft’s subpoena against Novell Inc. “would circumvent and undermine the law of the European Community concerning how a litigant may obtain third-party documents,” U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf in Boston wrote. Microsoft must comply with EU procedures and not seek help in U.S. courts, Wolf said.

The European Commission, the EU’s antitrust regulator, claims Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft isn’t complying with a 2004 antitrust order to license software information to competitors.

The company in March asked U.S. courts to force IBM Corp., Oracle Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Novell to disclose the letters, which Microsoft says show that the EU illegally colluded with rivals.