New reports show Microsoft’s compliance with a landmark antitrust ruling continues to be “entirely inadequate” and the company may soon face a fine up to 2 million euros daily, the European Commission said on Friday.
The Commission found two years ago that Microsoft used its dominant position in the Windows operating system to damage rival makers of server software used to run printers, password sign-ins and file access for small work groups.
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“Microsoft is still not in compliance with its obligations under the March 2004 Commission decision,” the Commission said.
Microsoft has challenged the 2004 decision and a hearing on its underlying case is set before the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg starting on Monday April 24.
Parties for all sides met with CFI President Bo Vesterdorf and reporting judge John Cooke to decide the schedule, a source familiar with the proceedings said.
On Monday and Tuesday, issues surrounding Media Player audio-visual software will be discussed, while on Wednesday and Thursday questions on interoperability will be discussed. Friday will be for summing up and minor issues.
Microsoft was fined 497 million euros ($592.3 million) in 2004 and ordered to provide interconnections so competitors could get their server software to run as well as Microsoft’s own with Windows desktop machines.
It was also ordered to offer a version of its Windows operating system without audio-visual software.
The Commission opened proceedings to fine Microsoft in a Statement of Objections issued on Dec. 21, 2005. It said the company failed to properly document the interoperability software and rivals could not use them.
Microsoft later provided additional information and offered to open some of its secret source code to licensees, but further reviews by the Commission’s Monitoring Trustee and TAEUS, a consultant from Colorado, said those gestures meant little.
“The (TAEUS) report describes various parts of the documentation as ’entirely inadequate’, ’devoted to obsolete functionality’ and ’self-contradictory’,” the Commission said in a statement.
“TAEUS concludes that Microsoft’s documentation was written ’primarily to maximize volume (page count) while minimizing useful information,”’ the Commission said.
TAEUS specializes in intellectual property valuation, reverse engineering, litigation support and expert testimony, the Commission said.
In a statement, Microsoft rejected the Commission’s findings.
“That documentation, coupled with free technical support and source code access for licensees, meets and surpasses the requirements of the Commission’s 2004 decision,” Microsoft said.
“The fact that the Commission has sought to review the evidence after issuing its December Statement of Objections shows quite clearly that the Statement of Objections is fundamentally flawed and should be withdrawn,” the company said.
Microsoft has asked for an administrative hearing on the charges on March 30 and 31. That hearing is closed under Commission rules.
Earlier in the day, the Commission made public the text of a previously secret 18-page decision establishing the office of Monitoring Trustee, and background information on the trustee and his assistants. It did so with Microsoft’s permission.
That follows a decision by Microsoft to open up some of its filings to the Commission, which was followed by a similar decision by Samba, a third party critical of Microsoft, to open its filings to the Commission.
Microsoft had charged that the Commission encouraged “secret contacts between Microsoft’s adversaries and the Trustee” and an advisory group to the Commission. It also said it had a right to see documents about those contacts.
The Commission points to sections of the decision that make it clear such contacts must be kept confidential unless the adversaries were to allow Microsoft to see the documents.