Microsoft has cancelled a request for a hearing with European
competition officials to discuss the European Union's antitrust
case against the company.
"We asked the [European] commission to withdraw our request for a
hearing," said John Frank, Microsoft's chief legal officer in
Europe. He added that it would be "inaccurate" to say that a
settlement is in the offing.
Microsoft would not reveal details behind its decision to pull out
of hearing, which had been scheduled for 20 December.
"We want to devote our energies toward a constructive resolution of
the case," Frank said. "We have said that when the commission is
ready, we would welcome the opportunity to hold discussions with
them to see if a mutually agreeable solution can be found."
Microsoft is under pressure from the UK Government over changes to
its software licensing regime, but Frank denied that the software
giant is pulling out of the hearing because it does not want to
expose the details of the case beyond the commission's
investigating team.
National competition regulators and companies involved in a
European Union antitrust case attend hearings.
"Everyone with access to the hearing will have access to our
written submission and to the commission's statement of
objections," Frank said.
Microsoft submitted a lengthy written response to the commission on
16 November, in reply to the opening of a new antitrust lawsuit at
the end of August. This case merges two previous cases against the
company and adds fresh allegations.
Contact between Microsoft and the European Commission since the
submission of the written response has been "very limited",
according to a source close to the investigation. "I would be
shocked if a deal is in the works," he said.
Amelia Torres, a spokeswoman on competition matters for the
commission, said the next step is to decide whether or not there
should be a hearing. "The right to a hearing applies both to the
defending parties and the complainants," she said.
It is possible that a third party might request a hearing, said the
source close to the investigation. "They will have to decide
whether to do that or to continue with the written responses," he
said.
Sun Microsystems is the main complainant, but many other companies
have filed their opinions about Microsoft's impact on competition
in Europe.
In its statement on 30 August, the commission accused the company
of "illegal practices to extend its dominant position in the market
for personal computer operating systems into the market for low-end
server operating systems".
The fresh allegations concern Media Player, the software embedded
in Windows that allows users to play sound and video on their PCs.
The Commission alleges that Microsoft is illegally tying its Media
Player product to the Windows operating system, to the detriment of
competing software.
However, the case centres on one central issue: interoperability.
"The Commission believes that Microsoft may have withheld from
vendors of alternative server software key interoperability
information that they need to enable their products to 'talk' with
Microsoft's dominant PC and server software products," the
Commission said.
The Commission believes that Microsoft may have done this through a
combination of its refusal to reveal the relevant technical
information and by "engaging in a policy of discriminatory and
selective disclosure on the basis of a 'friend-enemy' scheme".
Microsoft replied to the commission's statement on the same day,
saying that it is "gratified that the commission appears to have
narrowed the types of technical information that it believes that
Microsoft should disclose to competitors".
The company reiterated that it is committed to ensuring that its
products are interoperable with others on the market, and said it
"welcomes the opportunity to continue discussions with the
Commission on concrete steps that will promote interoperability
solutions that meet the needs of computer users".