Microsoft Files EU Antitrust Docs
109940
The threat of a 3-million-euro daily levy ($1.5 billion dollars a year) prompts Microsoft to file 8,500 documents aimed at compliance with the European Commission's antitrust decision from 2004. In Gear Factor.
450187
European antitrust regulators worry that Microsoft could dominate the burgeoning market for digital rights management software
518291
The European Commission, fresh from a major court victory over Microsoft, launched new antitrust investigations into the software giant on Monday on suspicion it abused its market dominance to favor its Web browser and Office product.
559997
Microsoft has agreed finally to take  steps to comply with the European Commission's landmark 2004  antitrust decision against it, the EU's executive arm said on  Monday.
617998
Microsoft has agreed finally to take steps to comply with the European Commission's landmark 2004 antitrust decision against it, the EU's executive arm said on Monday.
748765
PARIS, Sept. 17 -- A European Union court Monday rejected Microsoft's appeal of a European antitrust order requiring it to share software information with rivals and pay a record $690 million in fines for quashing competition.
78244
A European court confirmed on Tuesday  that it will rule on September 17 on whether software giant  Microsoft  broke European Union antitrust regulations.
459444
Microsoft has made substantial concessions to the European Commission, finally bringing the company into compliance with a&#160;2004 antitrust ruling, the Commission said Monday.
578455
Microsoft Corp. goes into round two Friday of its battle to get the European Union's sweeping antitrust ruling lifted having told a judge that it had been prepared during settlement talks to share more software code with its rivals than the EU ultimately demanded.
265351
European Union regulators said Monday they were investigating software giant Microsoft Inc. for abusing its monopoly by squeezing out office software and Internet browser rivals.
117224
The European Commission has opened two new antitrust investigations of Microsoft&#39;s activities.The first case is in response to a complaint from the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, a Brussels-based trade group of which Opera Software is a member, and concerns the interoperability of Windows with other software, the Commission said Monday.The second investigation is looking into Microsoft&#39;s tactic of bundling software products with its Windows operating system. This follows a complaint to the Commission by Opera, a Norwegian browser developer.Both issues featured in the Commission&#39;s landmark March 2004 antitrust decision against Microsoft, which the company unsuccessfully challenged in court.(More to come.)
20210
The European Commission warned  Microsoft  on Thursday it faced further fines in its  long-running antitrust battle with Brussels, this time for  seeking unreasonable prices from software makers for vital  data.
572541
The European Commission has begun two new antitrust investigations of Microsoft, including one probe into Microsoft's tactic of bundling software products with its Windows OS.
516518
(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Department of Justice and state attorneys general are concerned that Microsoft is revising deadlines that it agreed to as part of its antitrust settlement. At issue are changes that Microsoft says it needs to make in the schedule for releasing documentation related to Vista, according to a court document filed Tuesday. "Plaintiffs are concerned that Microsoft has not been able to meet its original schedule and are particularly troubled that at this late hour in the program, Microsoft is still discovering protocols that should have been included in the original documentation," the DOJ and the states said in a joint status report. "Plaintiffs are discussing this matter with Microsoft and will report to the court further at the status conference." The plaintiffs and Microsoft attorneys are due to meet with U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly next Tuesday for the status conference. Such conferences are held periodically so that the judge can assess whether Microsoft is complying with requirements of the 2003 antitrust order against the company. As part of the judgment, Microsoft is required to provide technical documentation for its software to help ISVs make their products interoperable with Microsoft's. On Feb. 15, Microsoft said that it needed to modify the schedule for documentation because protocols that must be documented were added to the Vista Server after the initial schedule for rewriting documentation was set or because those protocols were "inadvertently overlooked." For its part, Microsoft said in the status report filed Tuesday and made public Wednesday that it found it could "enhance" rewritten documentation of some existing protocols "by providing more detailed and comprehensive descriptions. This increased significantly the number of pages that Microsoft expected to produce in connection with the existing documentation." The number of pages of documentation Microsoft expects will be part of the rewrite project is "likely thousands of pages larger" than the company expected late last year. Under the revised schedule, Microsoft is expected to deliver documents related to Vista by April 3. It has already met three "milestones" that are part of the schedule and besides the Vista documentation has two other sets due May 11 and July 20 under the revised schedule. Microsoft said that the schedule, even since it was revised, is still aggressive. The antitrust case was tried in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which continues to oversee Microsoft compliance with requirements laid out in the judgment against the company.
211795
(InfoWorld) - Microsoft's Windows Vista OS doesn't pose antitrust issues so far, according to the latest status report on Microsoft's compliance with the U.S. antitrust settlement. The company has addressed all of the bugs identified relating to how third-party middleware software interacts with Vista, according to the report, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Microsoft has increased its cooperation with the court's technical committee in several ways to help ensure that middleware vendors have their software ready for Vista before the OS ships, the report said. The document defines middleware as software programs such as instant messaging programs, media players, e-mail clients, and Internet browsers. Around 30 vendors are working with regulators and Microsoft on how their software works with Vista, the report said. The U.S. government and states that were a party to the antitrust suit against Microsoft have conducted "extensive testing" of interim builds of Vista and Internet Explorer 7 to ensure compliance with the November 2002 antitrust settlement, the report said. As part of that settlement, Microsoft agreed to license communication protocols to IT vendors interested in developing server software that works smoothly with its Windows operating system. After complaints, Microsoft is rewriting some of the technical documentation for its Microsoft Communications Protocol Program (MCPP). The status report said Microsoft has made the new documentation easier to understand, but the company needs to stay on schedule for delivering further documents. Microsoft has until November 2009 to provide the information. The European Commission has also beenÂ scrutinizing Vista, following its 2004 antitrust ruling against Microsoft. So far, the Commission has taken no action against Vista. Microsoft has warned that if regulatory interference delays Vista's European launch, it couldÂ hurt Europe's economy. Microsoft plans to release Vista to business customers on Nov. 30. In 2004, the CommissionÂ fined Microsoft â¬497 millionÂ ($613 million at the time) for abusing its monopoly in the desktop OS market, ordered it to release a version of Windows XP without Windows Media Player software, and mandated it to license and document protocols used by its server products. Microsoft is appealing the decision before the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg.
393036
The European Commission launches new investigations into whether Microsoft breaks anti-competition laws.
764819
Microsoft Corp. tried to impress European antitrust regulators  with research that shows  the immense effect that the launch of  Windows Vista next year will have on Europe's IT industry and the broader economy.