Submission + - EU court crushes Microsoft's antitrust appeal
Stony Stevenson writes: European antitrust regulators have won a historic victory over Microsoft when an EU court upheld the European Commission's 2004 ruling that the U.S. software giant abused its market dominance. The European Union's second-highest court dismissed Microsoft's appeal on all substantive points, but threw the company a small bone by reversing the Commission on the creation and funding of a monitoring trustee to ensure implementation of one of the remedies.
In a crucial finding backing the Commission's order that Microsoft change its business practices, the court said the company was unjustified in tying new applications to its Windows operating system in a way that harmed consumer choice. In a revealing detail, the judges ordered Microsoft to pay most of the costs including some of its business rivals' which had supported the Commission's case.
In a crucial finding backing the Commission's order that Microsoft change its business practices, the court said the company was unjustified in tying new applications to its Windows operating system in a way that harmed consumer choice. In a revealing detail, the judges ordered Microsoft to pay most of the costs including some of its business rivals' which had supported the Commission's case.