Microsoft Corp met its midnight deadline to submit a compromise on its landmark antitrust case with the EU and EU regulators will likely assess the proposal for weeks before deciding whether to impose fines, company officials said yesterday.
"We have submitted the proposals and we are awaiting a response from the EU Commission," said Microsoft spokesman Tom Brookes.
If the EU deems the proposals insufficient, it might slap heavy sanctions on the software giant.
"We will now analyze it very carefully and decide whether it is sufficient or not," said EU antitrust spokesman Jonathan Todd.
Microsoft has to answer complaints from the EU head office it was not fully complying with last year's ruling against it which imposed a fine of 497 million euro (US$624 million) and ruled that the company abusively wielded its Windows software domination to lock competitors out of the market.
The EU has the power to slap fines as high as 5 percent of a company's daily global turnover if it feels its antitrust decisions are not being respected.
Both sides had contacts almost up until midnight Tuesday, the EU-imposed deadline following weeks of negotiations.
Once the commission has come to a decision on the Microsoft proposal, it will inform the company, which will then have time to rebut. Then the EU member states will be consulted and the full EU Executive Commission will decide on the case. The whole process will likely last until the end of next month.
During the last days of talks, negotiations centered on pricing and royalties that can be charged to allow software competitors better dovetail their products with Microsoft's Windows platform.
The orders of the European Commission require Microsoft to share under certain conditions its Windows server code with rivals to make the industry more competitive in the European marketplace.
Last month, the EU's regulators were still not convinced the Windows version Microsoft was forced to produce without Media Player was technically up to standard.
Microsoft said in the past it would give competitors a price break on reviewing source code and more time to decide whether they wanted to license it.
During the last high-level contacts last month, EU antitrust chief Neelie Kroes held talks with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to seek a breakthrough in the five-year standoff.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique