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WASHINGTON (AFP) — An EU court ruling upholding antitrust sanctions
against Microsoft drew a harsh response from the US government and
interest groups, which said it may stifle the burgeoning technology
sector.
Thomas Barnett, head of the Justice Deparment's Antitrust
Division, said the European Court of First Instance (CFI) in the case
against the US software giant may do more harm rather good for
consumers.
"Rather than helping consumers, (the decision) may
have the unfortunate consequence of harming consumers by chilling
innovation and discouraging competition," the US official said in a
strong rebuke of the EU action.
Barnett said that in the United States, "the antitrust laws are
enforced to protect consumers by protecting competition, not
competitors" and that barring "demonstrable consumer harm, all
companies, including dominant firms, are encouraged to compete
vigorously."
Similar comments were made by technology and other interest groups.
"This
decision marks the start of a dark period for (tech) companies -- large
or small -- with a high degree of uncertainty around the protection of
their intellectual property," said Jonathan Zuck, president of the
Association for Competitive Technology, an industry group of which
Microsoft is a member.
"The precedent will threaten the ability of any successful company to protect its innovations."
Citizens
Against Government Waste and the Taxpayers' Alliance, two groups that
lobby for limited government, said in a joint statement that the
decision "will stifle innovation around the world."
The two
groups said the court "apparently believes that real software designers
need to be replaced by bureaucrats, who will now be in the business of
writing code for computer programs and forcing intellectual property to
be given away without adequate compensation."
Dick Armey of the
government watchdog group Freedomworks added, "At the end of the day,
this was a case about rival companies bickering about market share, not
a case of consumer harm. Some companies may appreciate the big stick
provided by European regulators, but consumers will see little benefit,
and the business climate for American companies in the global
marketplace just got tougher."
The EU decision comes in sharp
contrast to an antitrust case in the United States, in which Microsoft
emerged largely unscathed from a long period of litigation.
The
company successfully overturned on appeal a US judge's ruling that
would have broken up the world's biggest software firm. Yet Microsoft
has had to pay some four billion dollars in damages to rivals and
remains under court supervision.
The US Chamber of Commerce said the "divergent enforcement" in antitrust cases will make it hard for multinational companies.
"The
Chamber is concerned that the US and the EU have not worked
cooperatively enough in addressing their respective antitrust concerns
despite having comity agreements in place," said chamber spokesman Stan
Anderson.
"There is a troubling pattern of non-cooperation on
significant antitrust cases. First, antitrust regulators on each side
of the Atlantic disagreed on merger review in the General
Electric-Honeywell case; today's court decision underscores a
substantial disagreement on dominance and appropriate remedies with the
Microsoft case."
He said the varying standards represent "a
significant and growing problem to the global economy," and that with
some 100 antitrust authorities worldwide, the problem could become
worse.
The EU court upheld a record 497-million-euro
(690-million-dollar) fine imposed by the European Commission in 2004,
part of a landmark antitrust case.
The tribunal confirmed the
Commission's 2004 antitrust finding that Microsoft had used its
ubiquitous Windows personal computer operating system to crush rivals
in other linked markets, such as media players.
The Commission
ordered Microsoft to sell a version of Windows PC without a media
player already bundled in and to share technical information with
rivals needed to make products that could function with Windows.
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