Microsoft seeks to overturn EU ruling

Bellis said the Commission was wrong to predict that Microsoft’s media player would quash rival software. Economist David Evans told the court that the success of Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes and Macromedia Inc.’s Flash player — now owned by Adobe Systems Inc. — did not bear out EU forecasts.

More than 87 percent of computer users now play media on non-Windows software, Evans said, and PC manufacturers have doubled the number of media players pre-installed on personal computers in Europe over the last two years.

“If the Commission was correct, we should see a steep downward trend,” he said.

The ECIS said this was false reasoning, because iTunes and others are not fully functioning media software that compete directly with Media Player.

“When innovators create new markets, Microsoft should not be allowed to appropriate them,” ECIS told the court. “Consumers, and not super-dominant firms, should be allowed to decide what solutions ultimately succeed.”

Record fine
The EU fined Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft a record 497 million euro ($613 million) in 2004 after deciding that the company had taken advantage of its position as the leading supplier of software for PC operating systems to elbow in on makers of rival server operating systems and media players.

In December 2005, the EU said that Microsoft had not done enough to help its rivals develop compatible software and threatened to impose daily fines of up to 2 million euros ($2.4 million), backdated to Dec. 15. It has yet to decide whether to levy the extra fines.

The hearing is expected to last through Friday, with a decision not expected for months. EU regulators will use evidence from RealNetworks Inc. on the media player issue and IBM Corp., Novell Inc., Oracle Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. on server systems compatibility.

None of those companies are currently involved in the legal battle, although they are members of two broad industry coalitions — ECIS and the Software & Information Industry Association — that back the Commission.

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