EU Aims to Restrict "Future Conduct"

The European Commission (EC) has concluded its antitrust investigation of Microsoft, ruling that the company abused its “near monopoly” in desktop OSs to compete in the markets for workgroup server OSs and digital media players, and ordering specific remedies and a fine of more than US$600 million. The ruling will have little immediate effect, but could form the basis for private lawsuits and government investigations in Europe over bundling and the disclosure of proprietary information, and eventually restrict Microsoft’s ability to add new functions to Windows. This is why Microsoft is appealing the ruling.

Why Settlement Talks Broke Down

The EC, the executive body that enforces fair competition laws for the European Union (EU), began its investigation in Dec. 1998, when Sun Microsystems complained that Microsoft refused to make available information about how desktop computers running Windows interoperated with Windows servers. In 2000, the EC expanded its investigation on its own accord and began considering whether Microsoft’s bundling of the Windows Media Player with Windows 2000 was an illegal attempt to leverage its desktop OS dominance into a new market.