Microsoft likely to face EU sanctions

EU regulators have found that the world’s biggest software company has refused to halt its violations. Since continuing settlement talks have produced no deal, the ruling sets out detailed plans to impose changes.

The advisory panel of national antitrust experts is also expected to endorse a fine of hundreds of millions of euros, but not until a second and final meeting on March 22.

The Commission has set March 24 for the decision, according to a draft agenda, the sources say. Only once it is endorsed will EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti announce one of the most important rulings of his five-year tenure.

“The key to the current decision is to establish principles and not simply solutions to individual issues,” said David Wood, a competition lawyer for Howrey Simon in Brussels.

Wood noted that EU regulators had dealt with a series of Microsoft cases during the 1990s, reaching compromises with the software giant in 1994 and 1997, but took no formal decisions.

“How many more Microsofts will there be?” he asked, saying the Commission had recognised a need to change the way the US giant does business in Europe. “That’s the focus of the case.” The Commission intends to give Microsoft a deadline to get its house in order or face additional action, the sources said. The Commission has worked and re-worked its draft ruling to stand up to scrutiny by EU courts in Luxembourg, to which Microsoft is certain to appeal in the case of any adverse decision. —(Reuters)