EC Investigates Microsoft, Time Warner Deal
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Time Warner and Microsoft see the acquisition of ContentGuard as a way of obtaining a stronger foothold in the increasingly important digital-rights management market.
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Software giant Microsoft Corp. and the media and entertainment powerhouse Time Warner Inc. ran into fresh trouble with the European Union on Wednesday as antitrust regulators ordered an in-depth probe of their deal to collaborate in making anti-piracy software.
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European antitrust regulators have announced they will conduct an in-depth investigation into a plan by Microsoft and Time Warner to acquire digital rights management company ContentGuard, a move that&#39;s seen as a setback for the deal.
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BRUSSELS -- The European Commission has "stopped the clock" on its antitrust investigation into digital rights management software maker ContentGuard, a joint venture between Microsoft and Time Warner, pending further information on the deal, it announced on Wednesday.
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The European Commission has decided to open an in-depth investigation into the proposed joint acquisition by Microsoft and Time Warner of a US company called ContentGuard.
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European Union regulators said Microsoft Corp. handed in on time to meet a Thursday deadline information about its Windows operating software that should help other software companies.
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The European Commission has announced that it will investigate plans by Microsoft and Time Warner to buy a Digital Rights Management firm after an initial review gave rise to fears that the purchase might create or strengthen a dominant position by
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MICROSOFT faces another in-depth probe by the European Commission, this time into plans by the software giant and media group Time Warner to acquire joint control of US ContentGuard Holdings.
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European commission opens two new investigations into suspected abuse by the software group of its dominant market position
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The E.U. said it would look into complaints that Microsoft unfairly tied its Web browser to its Windows operating system, making it harder for software rivals to work with Windows.
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Microsoft was close to a deal with the European Commission earlier this year which would have revealed more of its secrets than it has now been ordered to hand over, a court was told yesterday.
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(InfoWorld) - No one used the 'L' word, but both sides in the Microsoft Corp. antitrust battle in Europe accused each other of lying about basic facts surrounding the latest twist in the long-running saga that emerged Thursday. The European Commission sent Microsoft a so-called statement of objections Thursday accusing the software vendor of failing to provide interoperability information on "reasonable and non-discriminatory terms." This was a requirement laid out in the landmark 2004 antitrust ruling against the company. In its statement the Commission said the software giant proposes overcharging for vital interoperability information needed by software makers to allow their products to work properly with the Windows operating system. It dismissed almost all of the information Microsoft proposed revealing as not innovative and therefore not worth the price the company wants to charge to license it. Competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said Microsoft had agreed that the innovativeness of the information should be the main criterion when setting the price, but in a conference call with journalists later Thursday, Microsoft top lawyer Brad Smith denied his company had agreed innovativeness should be the main criterion. "We told the Commission we believe innovation is one of three main elements. We don't have the same interpretation of what had been established [between Microsoft and the Commission]," he said. Then ECIS, the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, accused Microsoft of misleading journalists by citing a study by accountants Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC), which, according to the software company, shows that the prices Microsoft wants to charge for licenses to the interoperability information are 30 percent below normal market rates. "It is an outrageous comparison," said Thomas Vinje, ECIS's legal advisor and a partner in the Brussels office of law firm Clifford Chance. "The PWC study compares the prices Microsoft wants to charge with the market price for much more valuable information such as software code, documentation, and full redistribution rights," he said. "What people will get with Microsoft's interoperability information is a lot less valuable. To compare it with the sort of information in the PWC study is like comparing apples with... some withered fruit," he added. The actual prices Microsoft wants to charge for licensing out the interoperability information are too complicated to share with journalists, Microsoft spokesman Tom Brookes said. He warned inquisitive journalists that there is no simple price list. The Commission believes that if all software vendors bought licenses it would amount to around 35 percent of the net profit of the industry. Microsoft's Smith dismissed this, saying: "I don't think you can conclude that." He said that if all vendors bought the licenses the total revenue Microsoft would earn would total around US$30 million -- a tiny fraction of annual software industry profits. "That $30 million figure bears no resemblance to reality, and if Microsoft can't explain how they reached this figure it has absolutely no value," Vinje said. Microsoft has four weeks to respond toÂ the latest statement of objections, after which it faces daily fines of up to â¬3 million (US$3.9 million). In the meantime, the Commission is expected to conclude its assessment of the substance of the interoperability information Microsoft submitted. It doesn't have to be innovative. In fact Microsoft's rivals, including ECIS, argue that much of the information competitors need in order to build their software so that it interoperates with the ubiquitous Windows OS on PCs is quite straightforward. Nevertheless, if it isn't revealed then rivals are stuck, Vinje said. Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd told journalists Thursday that Microsoft's continued failure to comply with the antitrust ruling is unprecedented. "In the 50 years of European antitrust policy, it's the first time we've been confronted with a company that has failed to comply with an antitrust decision," he said. "You have to look at their attitude faced with other antitrust authorities in other jurisdictions. This is a company that apparently does not like to have to conform with antitrust decisions," Todd added.
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The European Commission announced Wednesday it will extend an antitrust investigation of a move by Microsoft and Time Warner to take control of technology that could help the music and movie industries fight piracy.
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The European Commission plans to open  an in-depth, four-month probe of plans by Microsoft Corp. and  Time Warner Inc. to acquire joint control of U.S. ContentGuard  Holdings Inc., a source close to the situation said on Tuesday.
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The European Commission has opened an investigation into the planned acquisition of ContentGuard Holdings by Microsoft and Time Warner.
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The European Union approved a deal on  Wednesday setting conditions for the U.S. Treasury Department  to consult records of the international banking network SWIFT  in anti-terror probes, EU diplomats said.
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The European Commission will probe its approval of a merger between the music businesses of Sony and Bertelsmann.