Microsoft has finally decided to stand up to the European Commission, which seems determined not to protect the free market but to make Microsoft suffer.
Microsoft has sent a “strongly worded letter” to the EC, saying that it has violated their defense rights in its antitrust investigation.
Microsoft also said that it had submitted the neccessary technical documentation to the EC, but the regulator had not fully reviewed it. Additionally, Microsoft said the EC was confusing the difference between Microsoft revealing Windows source code, which would follow the spirit of the ruling by assisting competitors with developing interoperable applications, and revealing Windows internals, which would allow cloning of Windows.
Additionally, from the Financial Times:
But Microsoft now says it has not been given access to many of the documents that form the basis of these charges and that it is therefore in a poor position to counter the Commission’s claims.
In a 5-page letter was sent to the Commission on Monday, one of its lawyers writes: “The absence of access is seriously prejudicing Microsoft’s rights of defence.”
The letter alleges that the group has only been granted access to 29 out of 100 relevant documents, and that 25 of them were part of the correspondence between the Commission and Microsoft itself. Ian Forrester QC, a partner at White & Case and one of the senior lawyers working for the group, adds in the letter: It is difficult to deny there is an infringement of what most lawyers in Brussels would regard as normal rights of defence. Indeed, “I take the liberty of suggesting that normal rights of defence are being trumped by the supposed need to avert a danger to effective competition’.”
A Commission spokesman said the issue of access to documents was still under discussion between Microsoft and the independent Commission official responsible for ensuring due process. “It is premature for Microsoft to allege we are riding roughshod over their rights of defence because no definitive conclusion has yet been reached on their requests.”
But Microsoft says the Commission’s stance contradicts the position outlined by Neelie Kroes, the EU competition commissioner, last year, in which she confirmed companies’ rights to access the regulator’s files. The group’s letter states: “The position taken by the Commission is particularly troubling because it contradicts the Commission’s stated commitment to increased transparency and due process in antitrust investigations.”
A spokesman for Microsoft said on Thursday: “We have great respect for the Commission as a institution but we are very concerned about the lack of transparency in this procedure.”
I’m glad to see Microsoft fighting back. The EC has been bungling this case for a year now, since the mind-numbing decision to force Microsoft to release a version of Windows that couldn’t play audio files, to its latest moves to disqualify Microsoft’s every concession until MS has to hand over the store to competitors.
This has gone from a case of anticompetitive action on the part of a monopoly to a government agency trying to handicap a major corporation and attack their core business. Problem is, who’s going to stop them? Can Microsoft win this fight on its own?
(via DMeurope > Bink)
Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.
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