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Trade commission undecided on Microsoft case

The Cabinet's Fair Trade Commission yesterday said it has not yet determined whether to resume investigations into Microsoft Taiwan's business practices.

The commission charged the software giant of violating fair trade regulations in 2002.

The case is again in the spotlight as a settlement reached by the two in February last year was declared invalid by the Control Yuan on Wednesday. The Control Yuan ruled that the settlement should be forfeited because the terms of the administrative contract were not disclosed to the public.

It also blamed the commission for failing to adequately protect consumers' rights before settling with Microsoft, after a six-month investigation of the firm's "inconsistent pricing strategy" and bundle sales of Microsoft Office software products that violated fair trade regulations.

"As we have not received the Control Yuan's probe report, it remains too early to say if we would resume the investigation on Microsoft Taiwan's [possible violation of the Fair Trade Act (公平交易法)]," commission member Chen Jung-lung (陳榮隆) said yesterday.

The commission has been continuing to monitor Microsoft to ensure it abides by conditions of the settlement, he said.

Chen, however, said that the Control Yuan's report instead provides the commission with more bargaining power in future negotiations.
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