06/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - Having stated last November that the main plaintiffs in the Microsoft case (Sun, Novell and Computer and Communications Industry Associations) had withdrawn from the proceedings before the Court of Justice of the EU, which had worked together to investigate the commercial practices employed by the American company for six years, the Commission may be counting on the support of the large groups for continuing the procedure. Under the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS), IBM, Oracle and Nokia expressed a wish to participate in the body as part of Microsoft's appeals procedure against the Commission decision of 24 March 2004. The Court has still not given a verdict on admissibility regarding the request introduced by the ECIS and on Wednesday the Commission chose not to display its expected satisfaction over such reinforcement. Addressing the press, the Competition Commissioner's spokesperson would only say that the Commission would continue its analysis, no matter how many parties were present, and that the issue was not yet really relevant in the ongoing procedure. Even if the ECIS request is thrown out, the companies may still offer their technological and legal advice to the Commission and intervene in the oral hearings.