Brussels closes antitrust case on &#39;roaming&#39;
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European Union antitrust authorities closed on Wednesday long-running investigations into Vodafone and two other big mobile phone companies that allegedly charged excessive international call fees.
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Microsoft has dropped two outstanding appeals of European antitrust rulings, following the deal struck with the European Commission at the beginning of this week, the company said in a statement Wednesday.Last year, Microsoft appealed the &#8364;280.5 million fine it incurred for failing to provide interoperability protocols to rivals, as required in the landmark 2004 European Commission antitrust ruling. The appeal was filed with the Court of First Instance (CFI).It also appealed against the Commission&#39;s demands that it make the protocols available to open-source software developers.However, in light of&#160;the agreement reached between Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes&#160;on Monday, these appeals became redundant.Less than a month after suffering&#160;a crushing defeat in its original appeal of the 2004 ruling, Microsoft said Monday it would finally comply with that ruling. All the required interoperability protocols would be made available to the open-source community and the price for them would be slashed, Microsoft said.The two outstanding appeals to the CFI were no longer necessary, said Erich Andersen, European General Counsel for Microsoft.&quot;We believe it&#39;s important at this stage to focus all of our energies on complying with our legal obligations and strengthening our constructive relationship with the European Commission,&quot; he said in the statement.The Commission welcomed the withdrawal of the appeals, spokesman Jonathan Todd said.The only loose end remaining in the nine-year long antitrust battle between the world&#39;s biggest software maker and Europe&#39;s top competition authority is the calculation of fines still to be paid for Microsoft&#39;s three and a half years of non-compliance.The &#8364;280.5 million fine imposed in July last year was the sum of daily fines of &#8364;2 million for not honoring the ruling to that date. When that fine was announced, Kroes said the Commission would increase the daily fine to &#8364;3 million.Microsoft was officially deemed in compliance with the 2004 ruling on Monday, over 14 months after the last fine was imposed. A rough calculation would put the new fine at close to &#8364;1 billion. When added to the &#8364;280.5 million fine imposed last year and the original &#8364;497 million fine imposed in 2004 the total of antitrust fines in the case is about &#8364;1.8 billion.The Commission will announce the final tally toward the end of this year, Todd said.
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European and U.S. antitrust regulators  tried to calm a transatlantic storm on Thursday over a European  Court ruling that Microsoft used monopoly power to muscle  rivals, but did not back down over policy differences.
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Sources say agreement bars Coca-Cola from manipulating retailers to give its products an edge. BRUSSELS  - Coca-Cola and the European Commission were poised to settle a long-running antitrust case Friday, people familiar with the situation said.
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Coca-Cola agreed to a range of  concessions on Tuesday that the European Commission said would  be enough to wrap up a five-year antitrust case against the  world's largest soft drinks maker.
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Coca-Cola agreed to a range of concessions on Tuesday that the European Commission said would be enough to wrap up a five-year antitrust case against the world&#39;s largest soft drinks maker.
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Microsoft has dropped two outstanding appeals of European antitrust rulings, following the deal struck with the European Commission at the beginning of this week, the company said in a statement Wednesday.
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By David Lawsky BRUSSELS  - The judge considering Microsoft Corp.'s appeal against European Union sanctions has called a closed meeting for Thursday to decide what action to take after two more major opponents of the U.S. software giant withdrew from the case.
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Dexia, the French-Belgian bank, on Sunday called off merger talks with Italy&#39;s Sanpaolo IMI, ending the prospect of Europe&#39;s biggest cross-border banking deal.
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It concerns the European Commission ruling against Microsoft in March this year. Brussels found Microsoft guilty of breaking European Union antitrust law by abusing a dominant position in the market for PC operating systems.
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The European Union is moving closer to settling its long-running antitrust case against Coca-Cola Co., having judged the beverage giant&#39;s offer to modify distribution
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A U.S. district court has dismissed an  antitrust suit filed by microchip maker Broadcom Corp.   against Qualcomm Inc. , but Broadcom said it would  continue to pursue the case.
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Novell and the Computer and Communications Industry Association have agreed to end their participation in the legal case against Microsoft in the European Union.
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EU governments agreed to cut the cost of using mobile phones abroad Thursday, paving the way for a cap on roaming fees later this summer.
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The European Union on Monday formally adopted rules slashing the cost of cross border mobile phone calls in the 27-nation bloc, paving the way for their application in the coming months.
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After $536 million deal, Novell agrees to pull out of the European antitrust case
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Just in time for summer hols The EU has given the thumbs up to the Euro tariff for mobile phone roaming.â¦