Sony, Bertelsmann appeal EU court annulment of JV
481782
Europe's top court said on Thursday  Japanese electronics giant Sony and Germany's Bertelsmann have  appealed against an annulment of their joint venture that  created the world's second-largest music company.
738134
A European judge will hear arguments on Friday on whether Microsoft should be forced to remove its music and video player from its Windows system.
502180
Hungarian hammer thrower Adrian Annus has appealed against the removal of his Olympic gold medal. Annus was stripped of his title after failing to submit to a follow-up drugs test in Athens last month.
498372
BRUSSELS -- The European Commission has issued a formal set of objections to Microsoft Corp. and Time Warner Inc. taking control of ContentGuard Holdings Inc., a digital rights management (DRM) company, according to sources familiar with the case.
152635
Split decision possible The European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg will rule on Monday whether the guilty verdict against Microsoft should be overturned.â¦
350095
Paul McCartney and Robbie Williams  joined thousands of other performers on Thursday in an appeal  for an extension to British copyright on their recordings.
482746
The three most famous European authors of open-source software today issued an appeal against software patents in Europe. Linux author Linus Torvalds, MySQL author Michael Windenius and
318658
(InfoWorld) - The European Union's antitrust regulator has asked Hollywood studios to turn over information about their negotiations with the developers of high-definition DVD formats, giving them until the end of this week to respond. The European Commission is concerned that exclusive deals struck by some studios with the backers of either the HD DVD or Blu-ray Disc formats may be a sign of anticompetitive activity in the industry. HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc are competing for the attention of movie studios, which are increasingly releasing their films in high-definition format alongside the regular DVDs carrying standard-definition versions of the films. The Commission began looking for evidence of a possible infringement of E.U. antitrust regulations on its own initiative: there have been no complaints from companies in the industry, said Audrey Lemonnier, press officer for the cabinet of European Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes. The Commission wrote to a number of major studios in the first half of June, asking them for information about their dealings with the technology developers, Lemonnier said Tuesday. She would not say which studios received the letters, or how many were sent. The studios have until Friday to respond, she said. If the studios' answers give the Commission cause for doubt, it may launch a full investigation, she said. Film studios Twentieth Century Fox and Walt Disney release their high-definition content exclusively on Blu-ray Disc, although another member of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), Warner Bros. Entertainment, has a foot in both camps: It also releases films on HD DVD. Blu-ray Disc also has the backing of Sony, which uses a Blu-ray Disc player in its PlayStation 3 game console, and computer makers such as Apple, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard. HD DVD has won the backing of Universal Studios, which releases high-definition movies exclusively in HD DVD format, and Microsoft, which uses it in its Xbox 360 game console. Over a million Blu-ray Discs have been sold to date, and 70 percent of high-definition video discs sold in the first quarter were in the Blu-ray format, according to the BDA. Anticompetitive activity can ultimately harm consumers, Lemonnier said. But consumers might prefer to see one format dominate the market, as VHS swept away videotape rival Betamax in an earlier battle over formats. As long as the two compete, and film studios choose one or the other, movie buffs are condemned to buy two players, or be unable to watch some films at home. Representatives for Blu-ray Disc backer Sony and HD DVD supporter Toshiba, and for the DVD Forum, which promotes the HD DVD format, all declined to comment on the Commission's action, saying that it was a matter for the Hollywood studios alone. The studios could not immediately be reached.
133441
It&#39;s a clash between the film industry and a consumer electronics company -- over a home theatre jukebox. The legal battle is over something called the Kaleidescape System.
39385
Launches in-depth investigation The European Commission (EC) has launched an in-depth investigation into the merger of Sony and Bertelsman AG, despite having given the deal its blessing back in July of 2004.â¦
74261
A top European court has summoned all the parties involved in the European Union&#39;s antitrust case against Microsoft to a meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday after two prominent opponents of Microsoft withdrew from the proceedings, a court official has said.
387587
Following incoming European Commission (EC) President Jose Manuel Barroso's decision to withdraw consideration of the new EC team today, New Era (JL) is calling on Prime Minister Indulis Emsis (Union of Greens ...
92321
[JURIST] BBC News is reporting that incoming EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has withdrawn his proposed slate of Commissioners from consideration by the European Parliament after a dispute over the inclusion of controversial Justice portfolio
291988
(InfoWorld) - The European Court of First Instance will give its long-awaited verdict in Microsoft's antitrust appeal on Sept. 17, people involved in the matter said Tuesday. It is by far the biggest antitrust case ever referred to the European Union's second highest court. The outcome of the appeal, which will have taken more than three years, will influence the future shape of the software industry and be a reference point for future antitrust cases, especially those in the fast-changing world of information technology. The European CommissionÂ ruled in 2004Â that Microsoft had abused the dominant position of its Windows OS to muscle in on other sectors of the software market. By bundling Windows Media Player, its audio and video playing software, into Windows, Microsoft competed unfairly against rivals such as Real Networks and Apple, the Commission ruled. And by failing to share technical information about how to interoperate with Windows PCs, Microsoft managed to steal a march in the market for low-end server operating systems. Microsoft appealedÂ both threads of that ruling, and in April last year the court held a three-day hearing at which the Commission and Microsoft, together with their respective software industry allies, tried to convince the judges of their arguments. There are four possible outcomes of September's decision, two of which are clear cut but unlikely, and the other two mixed and more probable. First clear-cut but unlikely outcome: the court sides with the Commission on both parts of the case -- media player and server interoperability. It deems Microsoft an obstacle to innovation in the software industry and orders the immediate break-up of the company, effectively appropriating the Windows operating system and making it a public utility. Second clear cut but unlikely outcome: the court sides with Microsoft on both counts. It declares that the break-neck speed of change in the IT industry is defined by a string of monopolies and that one monopoly is inevitably overtaken by another in time. Therefore, regulators should not apply antitrust laws too strictly, and should allow dominant operators such as Microsoft to use all means to prolong and expand their dominance of a market. More likely, the court will give a mixed ruling. It may side with the Commission on interoperability but uphold Microsoft's appeal of the bundling ruling. Microsoft is ordered to release all interoperability information to rivals immediately. The result would be growth of Microsoft's largest direct rivals, at its expense, and a flattening of the software market as we know it today, with Microsoft brought slightly more into line with the likes of Sun Microsystems, Oracle, and IBM. It would also open up Microsoft Office to open source software rivals, who until now have been marginalized in the lucrative desktop application market. However, Microsoft would no longer need to sell a second version of Windows with the Media Player stripped out, which it has been forced to do in Europe today, and it would most probably bundle more and more features with Windows in future, to the likely detriment of any halfway successful innovation from a software developer such as Google. In a nutshell, this outcome would restore fair competition in the software markets that existed in the 20th century but it would do nothing to impede Microsoft from muscling in on new markets that have already started to emerge this century. Alternatively, Microsoft could lose the bundling argument but win on the interoperability side. The Court orders Microsoft to set up a separate company to sell a completely unbundled version of Windows, a turbo-charged "edition N," if you like (the name for its version of Windows without Media Player). This separate entity would be free to compete with the fully bundled version, and free to strike partnerships with any other software developer. However, Microsoft could still withhold information about Windows from rivals to handicap them in some markets, such as the low-end server operating system market. This would allow Microsoft to dominate the traditional, office-based computing environment, at the expense of rivals such as Sun Microsystems, IBM, and Oracle. Put simply, this outcome would secure Microsoft in all the fat, but mature markets connected to the office environment, but would limit its ability to fend off challenges in new fields linked to the Internet. The third of these outcomes is the likeliest, according to lawyers following the case, although none would be quoted predicting the court's decision. Â
706745
Independent record companies said Wednesday they have decided to file a court challenge to the merger of Sony Music and BMG, the music unit of Germany&#39;s Bertelsmann.
178245
LUXEMBOURG Microsoft warned a European appeals court on Thursday that software developers and consumers would face dire consequences should legal sanctions intended to hinder its ability to dominate the markets for desktop media players and server
499620
Microsoft said Tuesday it has appealed a July fine by the European Commission with the Court of First Instance, the European Union's second highest court. It also called the additional fine unfair, and blasted the EC for being vague.