Antitrust officials at the European Commission have drafted a final ruling in their six-year case against Microsoft, the commission said on Monday.
"We are concluding the case," Amelia Torres, a spokeswoman for the competition panel, said.
The draft ruling, which was not made public, was circulated within the commission last week, according to a person who insisted on not being identified.
"As far as the competition department is concerned, the ruling is final," said another person, who is also knowledgeable about the case. All departments of the commission are free to comment, but they generally would not alter an antitrust ruling in any substantive way, this person said.
Microsoft said on Monday that it was continuing to negotiate with EU regulators.
"We are engaged actively and constructively with the European Commission," Jim Desler, a Microsoft spokesman, said.
The ruling may follow the line the commission took last August when it accused Microsoft of abusing its dominant position in the software market by obstructing rivals' programs from working with the ubiquitous Microsoft Windows operating systems.
The commission also accused the company of shutting out competitors to its Media Player audiovisual software by bundling Media Player into the computer code of Windows.
The commission was the host of a hearing in November at which Microsoft's rivals were invited to offer evidence to support a case that the company was distorting the markets. According to people present at the closed hearing, the commission's misgivings about the way Microsoft competes were confirmed in the presentations.
Microsoft also argued its position at the hearing, but its real negotiations with the European regulators did not begin until after the hearing ended.
Internal consultations on a draft ruling like this one usually take about a month. Next, the ruling is circulated among national competition regulators from the 15 member states of the EU.
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