Brussels, 21/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - No matter what Brussels lobbyists say, the sentence of the Court of First Instance against Microsoft on Monday 17 September, is not the prelude to a multitude of similar cases. Microsoft (whether lawyer Lars Liebleler, who acted for the company, likes it or not) was not “punished simply for having been successful”, but rather for the way it ensured its success. The Court's decision against it will not, then, have great influence on the outcome of the other Commission investigations into Qualcom, iTunes and Intel, since these case deal with very different conduct.
Microsoft can, it must be remembered, appeal to the Court of Justice only to refute the legal aspects of the judgment, not to have the facts re-examined. It cannot challenge, for example, that it holds a 60-80% share of the server market, but it could argue that it does not hold a dominant market position for all that. Until now, it has refused to confirm or deny its intention to lodge an appeal, but has 70 days from the day the judgment was announced to do so. Even if Microsoft does not appeal, the case at the Commission is not yet closed. It still remains to be determined if the information supplied in July is indeed sufficient to allow software, compatible with the Windows system, to be developed, and there is also the thorny issue of the rates at which Microsoft can sell its protocols. If, after its many requests, the Commission decides the information supplied is still insufficient, it will increase the fine by €280 million. The case, which has been going on for almost ten years is not about to be closed, and this has brought opprobrium. “In the light of the criticisms made by the Court, the European Commission needs to examine its working practices. The very long time taken by the Commission to reach a decision in this case is unsatisfactory in a fast moving industry,” said MEP Malcolm Harbour (EPP-ED, United Kingdom). (cd)