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EU anti-trust ruling on Microsoft to come on March 24

The European Commission is expected to announce its final decision in a long-running anti-trust case against US software giant Microsoft Corp on March 24, officials said yesterday.

Microsoft, whose Windows operating system is installed in 90 percent of all personal computers, is accused in Europe of trying to squelch rival products to its Windows Media Player software, such as RealPlayer and Apple QuickTime.

After a more than five-year investigation, specialists working for EU competition commissioner Mario Monti concluded in a preliminary finding last month that Microsoft had in fact infringed EU competition rules.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft's effort to resolve an antitrust lawsuit regarding Windows XP in Europe is stalled on a dispute over music and video players. The company faces millions of euros in fines as early as next month and the cost of court battles unless it can agree a compromise.

The commission will discuss that preliminary finding with anti-trust experts from EU countries at two meetings this month, on March 15 and 22, before taking a decision at its weekly Wednesday meeting on March 24, sources said.

Microsoft has also been accused of seeking to squeeze out other firms in the market for "low-end servers" -- computers that provide e-mail and other services to multiple users.

Last month officials indicated that Brussels could offer a "soft" compromise deal to settle the Microsoft case, letting the company decide itself which intellectual property rights it surrendered.

Such a deal would avoid legal appeals which would likely follow a firmer Brussels slap for the group.

The compromise suggestion came after EU internal market commissioner Frits Bolkestein intervened in the case because he believes the EU should not take away intellectual property rights from companies.

Microsoft last week had its Tokyo office raided by Japan's Fair Trade Commission as part of a probe into how it supplies Windows XP software for computers sold in Japan.

The investigation involves whether Microsoft's licensing of Windows XP software violated the country's anti-monopoly law.
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