Monday, September 17, 2007

Microsoft to learn its EU antitrust fate tomorrow

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Microsoft will be in a familiar position tomorrow when it stands before a European Grand Chamber of the Court of First Instance, where the special 13-judge tribunal will be issuing its final verdict in an antitrust case that has been dragging on since long after the software giant finished its controversial little dance with the Department of Justice here in the US. According to Reuters, the five-point ruling will be handed down in Brussels on live TV at 3.30AM EDT, and will determine the validity of the European Commission's 2004 decision against Redmond on issues of bundling and interoperability as well as the subsequent sanctions that have totaled hundreds of millions of dollars to date. The best case scenario for Microsoft would see the court overturning the underlying decisions -- automatically canceling the sanctions -- while the EU obviously hopes that its rulings and penalties will be upheld, effectively giving it a mandate to press for even more concessions along with increased leverage against other non-compliant companies. We'll have the decision for you immediately after it's released, so set your alarms folks....

 

[via] Engadget

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