Microsoft
The EU vs Microsoft
There has been a long running battle between the EU Competition Commission and the US giant, Microsoft, over alleged abuses of its dominant position.
The EU started to investigate the Microsoft Corporation in 1999 after a complaint from Sun Microsystems that Microsoft had withheld vital information about its operating system. After 5 years of investigation it made its final ruling in 2004.
Under this ruling, Microsoft was forced to provide its rivals with technical details of its operating system, a type of forced ‘unbundling’ of the infrastructure upon which computer programmes run.
Microsoft was also fined €497m (£340m) for continued abuse of its near monopoly position, and forced to offer its operating system to computer manufacturers without Media Player bundled into the package.
The EU Commission based its rulings on the view that competition would eventually be eliminated in the Media Player market, with consumers having less choice, and with innovation stifled. (Source: eurunion.org – 2005).
By 2011 Microsoft’s market shares in Europe were: