Hoger beroep Microsoft tegen boete Europese Commissie van start (en)

Microsoft and the European Commission will face off in Luxembourg today (24 April) as the EU's second highest court begins hearings on the software giant's appeal of a €497 million fine for violating EU competiton law.

The commission ruled in 2004 that Microsoft was squeezing out competition in the media player market, preventing other software developers from making products that work with Windows by holding back technical information.

The EU antitrust regulator told Microsoft to share some of its source code allowing rivals to make compatible software products as well as imposing the fine.

Microsoft will challenge the decision at the European Court of First Instance by arguing the commission acted unlawfully when trying to force it to share source code.

The company says the commission is trying to make new rules that would force successful companies to share the fruits of their research with less successful rivals.

The hearings, planned to last five days, are to be held before the rarely-used Grand Chamber of 13 judges in the court's largest chamber.

The first two days will see a review of the commission's decision that Microsoft acted illegally by integrating audiovisual software into the Windows operating system and withheld information from rivals.

Windows is used in more than 90 percent of personal computers worldwide.

On Wednesday and Thursday, judges will hear Microsoft's challenge against the 2004 commission decision, with the firm explaining that it acted legally and did not block competition.

If Microsoft wins the appeal case, the commission's credibility as a market regulator will suffer a huge blow, press agencies report.

The commission's competition unit took a beating in three court reversals in smaller cases in the past few years.

But if Microsoft loses, the company could be left open to anti-trust investigations by Brussels.

The commission warned Microsoft last month that its new operating system, Windows Vista, due out early next year, might also infringe EU rules and limit choice for consumers.

EU competition commissioner Neily Kroes is concerned about the coupling of certain programmes such as internet browsers to the Windows Vista operating system.

Windows Vista is Microsoft's first major new operating system since WindowsXP in 2001, but its launch could be delayed due to the competition dispute.

The final decision on the appeal hearings could take up to a year.