In December the Commission sent a Statement of
Objections to Microsoft, warning that the company was in breach of
the March 2004 ruling that Microsoft had broken EU competition law.
Microsoft was required, among other things, to publish some
interfaces, so that competitors could make their products
interoperable with Windows.
Microsoft has been slow to produce what the Commission sees as
adequate interoperability information, and the Commission has
indicated that it will impose fines if the information is not
forthcoming.
The Statement of Objections gave the software giant until 25th
January, then extended to 15th February, to supply "adequate
information about its server programs". Microsoft met the deadline,
but has since accused the Commission of ignoring critical evidence,
withholding documents and colluding with its competitors.
The documents supplied by Microsoft on 15th February have now
been examined by the Monitoring Trustee, a computer science expert
appointed by the Commission to provide technical advice on the
interoperability issues, and TAEUS Europe Ltd, an intellectual
property engineering firm recruited by the Commission as expert
advisors.
In a letter sent by the Commission on Friday, Microsoft was told
that both the Trustee and TAEUS found the documentation to be
inadequate.
The Monitoring Trustee found that although it was improved
slightly, “nothing substantial was added to the Technical
Documentation” compared to the previous version, and that the
material continued to be incomplete, inaccurate and unusable.
TAEUS, meanwhile, found various parts of the documentation to be
“entirely inadequate”, “devoted to obsolete functionality” and
“self-contradictory”. It concluded that Microsoft’s documentation
was written “primarily to maximise volume (page count) while
minimising useful information.”
Microsoft has requested an Oral Hearing, scheduled for 30th and
31st March, after which the Commission will decide whether to
impose the fines.
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