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Microsoft Lodges Another Appeal of European Ruling

Posted on: Tuesday, 20 September 2005, 03:00 CDT

MICROSOFT LAST WEEK said it has lodged a new appeal against the European Commission's antitrust ruling as it continues to try to short-circuit any effort to force it to make its communications protocols available to competitors.

The complaint follows Microsoft's receipt of a letter from the EC outlining its decision not to accept the terms under which the company was prepared to make available the communications protocols for its workgroup server software.

In its negotiations with the EC, Microsoft has refused to allow its source code to be licensed under the General Public License, which lets users freely modify and redistribute software, among other things.

Microsoft and the EC had agreed in June to let the European Court of First Instance settle the communications protocol issue. A Microsoft spokesman said the latest suit was filed to ensure that the company's side in the dispute is studied closely by the court.

"We are taking this step so the court can begin its review of this issue now, given its farreaching implications for the protection of our intellectual property rights around the world," the spokesman said.

Since the issue of underlying source code wasn't explicitly mentioned in the commission's initial antitrust ruling in March 2004 or in the company's appeal lodged last year, Microsoft wants to make sure the court focuses on that aspect, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, the EC continues to seek responses from Microsoft rivals and other industry players about the terms that Microsoft has offered to settle the complaints, commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said last week.

Simon Taylor, IDG News Service

Copyright Computerworld Inc. Sep 12, 2005

Source: Computerworld

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