The European Commission will issue a preliminary ruling in an antitrust case against Microsoft late this year and a final decision next year, a top official at the EU executive said yesterday.
The Commission is investigating allegations that Microsoft used its dominant power in the operating systems market for personal computers to improve its position in other markets.
"We expect to issue a preliminary decision by the end of this year," said Mr Philip Lowe, director general of the Commission's competition directorate. "We will have a final decision next year."
Mr Lowe said the preliminary decision would be made final after a period of public consultation.
"It is not yet clear which problems will be cleared up in the \ States," he added.
In the US, a judge is considering what remedies should be imposed on Microsoft for violations of antitrust laws.
An appeals court in Washington ruled unanimously that Microsoft had abused the monopoly power it holds with its Windows operating system. However, there has been no decision yet by the European Commission.
The Commission alleges Microsoft has designed Windows to work better with its own server software than that of rivals. It has been making steady inroads into the server market.
Brussels also says Microsoft has tied Windows to Media Player software for audio and video, giving it a competitive advantage.
Mr Lowe said that, in addition to leveraging its power from one market to another, the tying of one product to another in order to sell both is an issue in the case.
In a decision yesterday, the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg overturned a Commission merger ban against Sweden's Tetra Laval, a packaging company that wants to take over French bottling machine maker Sidel.
Nonetheless, that decision affirmed the use of leveraging theory by the Commission. It simply said the Commission failed to prove that Tetra was going to illegally leverage its new-found power over Sidel to make inroads on the market.
"What the court is saying is that if we believe that the leveraging effects are there, then we need more economic evidence to back up our forecasts," Mr Lowe said.
And while the exercise involving Tetra Laval was within a stringent time limit of four months, because it was a merger decision, the Commission has had years to look at the Microsoft case, which is an antitrust case. That gives the Commission plenty of time to gather information.
A lawyer representing the Computer & Communications Industry Association, a long-time opponent of Microsoft in its US court and Brussels cases, said he was encouraged by the Tetra Laval decision.
A Microsoft spokeswoman had no comment.
- (Reuters)
