Microsoft urges Brussels to follow US anti-trust decision

Microsoft yesterday said it was ready to restart talks with the European Commission after the computer giant settled its anti-trust case in the United States.

The EU regulator is set to reopen its inquiries, which it suspended awaiting the outcome of the US hearing, with a preliminary ruling expected by the end of the year.

On Friday Microsoft was seen as the victor after a Federal court endorsed its anti-trust settlement with the US justice department and nine states. The agreement sets remedies for Microsoft's illegal abuse of monopoly power, which an appeal court found it used to compete unfairly.

Microsoft said it hoped the Commission would take a lead from the US but competition lawyers said the European body was likely to take a strongly independent attitude.

A spokesman for Microsoft said that in the interests of transatlantic consistency it hoped the US decision would become a reference point.

Horacio E. Gutierrez, associate general counsel for Microsoft in Europe, said"we hope they would weigh these decisions with the other facts before them", conceding it was conceivable the Commission might take steps inconsistent with the decision by district judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.

The Commission has not commented on the US ruling and is likely to take some time to comb through the judgment. It could impose tougher conditions on Microsoft and, theoretically, fine it as much as 10 per cent of global sales.

Christopher Thomas, a Brussels-based competition partner with UK law firm Lovells, said it was important to realise the European case was very different from the issues in the US trial. He said a key issue not settled by the US outcome was over claims that Microsoft designed Windows to work best with its own server software, hurting competitors with other systems.

"Since the violation under investigation in the EU is different to that found in the US litigation, it is logical that the EU may impose a different remedy," he said.

"You should bear in mind that there's a chronological gap between the cases," he said. The Commission is investigating Windows 2000, which had not been designed when the US case began.

Mr Roberts said that while "in an ideal world there would be harmony", the Commission had developed a reputation for independence from the US. Last year it rejected GE's proposed merger with Honeywell that the US had approved.