Brussels, 19/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - Last Friday, the European Commission confirmed that it had sent a Statement of Objections to Microsoft, the world leader in publishing software, on the tying of Internet Explorer to Windows. The Commission believes that tying the Windows operating system to the Internet Explorer infringes Community law on competition.
The Commission took a year to study the case, which began with an investigation in January 2008 (EUROPE 9580), following a complaint by the Norwegian publisher, Opera, in autumn 2007. According to a press release on 19 January, the Commission concluded that, “the tying of Internet Explorer with Windows, which makes Internet Explorer available on 90% of the world's PCs, distorts competition on the merits between competing web browsers insofar as it provides Internet Explorer with an artificial distribution advantage which other web browsers are unable to match”. The Commission is also concerned that through the tying, Microsoft shields Internet Explorer from head to head competition with other browsers which is detrimental to the pace of product innovation and to the quality of products which consumers ultimately obtain. Microsoft has 8 weeks to reply to DG Competition.
The accusation strongly resembles the original case decided in September 2007, which the computer giant lost (EUROPE 9503). The promises made by Microsoft, however, to comply with the Court ruling had not in any way resolved the problems posed by the plaintiffs, given that this involves different products, explained Thomas Vinje, a legal expert at the Clifford Chance company and spokesperson for ECIS, an association that brings together Microsoft competitors (European Committee for Interoperable Systems). The September decision therefore imposes the untying of Windows system sales from that for the Mediaplayer software. It is now the tying of the system of the Internet Explorer software that is being questioned.
A second investigation was announced in January 2008 over the compatibility of certain Microsoft software, particularly “Office” with rival applications. The Commission has still not reached a verdict on this second section. (C.D./trans/rh)