EU wants undistorted competition in media players
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Thursday August 30 10:49 AM ET
EU Widens Its Probe of Microsoft
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By David Lawsky
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission (news - web sites) said on Thursday it has expanded its investigation of Microsoft Corp to determine if the U.S. software giant is illegally tying its Media Player to its Windows operating system.
The Commission said it is also investigating whether one version of the firm's operating system, Windows 2000 (news - web sites), is designed to work better with its own servers than those of rivals.
The Commission said on Thursday it was combining the newer case, in which it issued a formal Statement of Objections, with a similar case covering Windows 98 (news - web sites).
For now, however, the Commission said it was stopping short of expanding its investigation to cover a new Windows version, XP. A number of firms say that Windows XP (news - web sites) excludes them in the same way -- or worse -- than earlier systems did.
``At this stage the Commission is not conducting an investigation into Windows XP,'' Commission spokeswoman Amelia Torres said in response to a question at the Commission's daily briefing. No interim measures would be taken against the company while the probe went on.
The company expressed confidence it would be cleared by the Commission of any wrongdoing.
``We are confident that once it has completed its investigation, the European Commission will be assured that we run our business in full compliance with EU law,'' said Jean Philippe Courtois, president of Microsoft in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said the investigation was necessary to create a fair marketplace in an arena vital to computing and communications.
``Server networks lie at the heart of the future of the Web and every effort must be made to prevent their monopolization through illegal practices,'' Monti said in a statement.
``The Commission also wants to see undistorted competition in the market for media players,'' he said.
Spokeswoman Torres said the Commission's case was unrelated to actions in the United States, where an appeals court ruled unanimously that Microsoft illegally abused its monopoly power.
The appeals court threw out a plan to break up the company in part because a lower court judge made procedural errors. Next month in Washington, a new judge will consider what actions should be taken to remedy the firm's illegal practices. |
