Microsoft ruling: A tale of two halves

6.40.14pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 14th Sep 2007

Ahead of the Monday (17th) ruling of the European Court of Justice on Microsoft Sharon Bowles MEP, European Liberal Democrat Competition Spokesperson, said "This eagerly anticipated ruling is exceptional on a number of fronts. If Microsoft's appeal is successful it will give the European Commission an enormous black eye, if not the result is likely to ripple across the entire industry. In reality I am certain the result will be a mixture."

In 2004, the European Commission ordered Microsoft to pay a record fine of €497m and was told to unbundle its media player from its own Windows programme. It was also told to disclose details of its Windows software codes so that rivals can design compatible products.

Sharon Bowles, who is also an expert in intellectual property has been following this case and attended the Court of First Instance Hearing in Luxembourg. She said "I would find it understandable if the Commission win on the bundling but lose on interoperability. Another outcome that I could understand would be if the Commission win on there being a competition issue, but their solutions being wrong. "

"The fact that at present there are many rumours over the possible result arises from the level of secrecy over issues in EU competition cases. Only the Commission and the Court know everything and much is still in the dark to everyone else, and will remain that way. This means that we can all be left not really understanding the verdict when it does come!

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