Brussels, 26/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - Close sources suggest that the European Commission is planning to publish its decision in the controversial investigation it is carrying out into the US giant Microsoft before 1 May 2004. The investigation has been underway for the past four years and the sudden spurt of speed is due to the fact that enlargement will mean another ten countries adding their experts to the investigation team, making consensus even more difficult to achieve. The sources suggest that the EU will try to conclude the investigation as soon as possible and before 1 May (when ten new Member States will join the ranks of the EU). If the decision on Microsoft is not unanimous, this could cause problems further down the line if it is challenged in court.
In an oral hearing in November, Microsoft was confident it could strike a compromise agreement with the EU authorities, but the latter seemed to be taking a hard line. Microsoft business leaders were accompanied by a team of specialist experts and lawyers at the hearing. If the Commission confirms the suspicions that the IT giant was abusing its dominant position on the software market with the aim of hamstringing interoperability with competing servers, and if it decides to impose a fine, Microsoft is highly likely to challenge the decision at the European Court of Justice. Microsoft does not see anything in its practices as being anti-competitive and feels that the 'remedies' the Commission is suggesting to solve the dispute are unrealistic and fall foul of intellectual property rights.