Microsoft, EU Debate Access for Rivals

General counsel for Microsoft Corp. Brad Smith arrives at the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg, Tuesday April 25, 2006. The EU's second-highest court began questioning Microsoft Corp. and the European Commission Tuesday, as the software maker embarked on the second day of its quest to overturn a landmark antitrust ruling against it. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert) (Geert Vanden Wijngaert - AP)

Thomas Vinje, a lawyer for an industry group supporting the Commission _ the European Committee for Interoperable Systems _ said Microsoft was trying to blow its patent rights out of proportion and skirt the key issue of the company's monopoly power.

"This is a case about abuse of a dominant position, about refusing to provide information to vendors," he said.

Microsoft broke an informal agreement with EU advocates when it dragged up the recent dispute over the company's compliance with the order _ earning them a stern reprimand from Judge Bo Vesterdorf, who told Forrester to stick to the issue at stake.

Forrester claimed that Microsoft was being threatened with 2 million euro ($2.4 million) daily fines, backdated to Dec. 15, for not creating "a new copyright work" derived from Windows secret source code.

EU regulators asked Microsoft to supply a "complete and accurate" support manual for developers to help them make compatible software.

Last December, they charged Microsoft with not obeying the order after an independent monitor branded Microsoft's 12,650-page technical manual as "unfit at this stage for its intended purpose."

The world's largest software maker says it has the right to guard its valuable intellectual property, and maintains that it has worked strenuously to comply with the 2004 EU ruling.

It was handed down after a five-year investigation concluded that Microsoft had taken advantage of its position as the leading supplier of operating systems to damage rivals who offered server software and media player programs.

While a ruling on the challenge is not due for months, a decision backing the Commission could force Microsoft to change the way it does business in the future and endorse the EU's ability to hold back aggressive corporate behavior.

An appeal of any decision, however, is not certain since Microsoft would need strong legal arguments to protest the ruling to the EU's highest court, the European Court of Justice.