U.S. intervenes in EU's Microsoft antitrust case

IDG News Service - BRUSSELS -- As it makes a final effort during two days of hearings to avert daily fines of up to $2.4 million in its antitrust fight with the European Commission, Microsoft Corp. has received sympathy, if not support, from a powerful friend: the U.S. government.

U.S. diplomats have intervened, urging the EC as well as all 25 national governments in the European Union to be fair to the company, diplomats and commission officials said today as the closed-door hearings got under way.

Microsoft has complained frequently in recent months that it has been denied the right to a fair defense in the commission's continuing antitrust case. Microsoft has also accused the commission of collaborating with its software industry rivals and of denying the company access to what it claims are documents vital for its defense.

According to a memo written by unnamed government officials in Washington, the Microsoft complaints raise "substantial concerns" about the way Microsoft is being treated in the antitrust case, said a person familiar with the commission's activities. The memo was distributed to embassies around the EU and through the U.S. mission to the EU in Brussels.

Diplomats from the U.S. mission to the EU visited the offices of three European commissioners earlier this week. Jonathan Todd, spokesman for Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, confirmed that her close aides met with U.S. diplomats this week and received the memo. He declined to comment on its content.

U.S. diplomats are also believed to have visited the offices of Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy and Commission Vice President Gunter Verheugen, according to a source familiar with the commission's activities.

A U.S. diplomat denied that the government is coming to Microsoft's aid in its antitrust dispute. "Our interest is less that than wanting to see that everything is done properly," the diplomat said on the condition of anonymity.

"We are careful not to take a position on the accuracy of Microsoft's accusations, but if they were true, they would be a matter of concern," the diplomat said.

This isn't the first time the U.S. government has intervened in the European antitrust case against Microsoft. "There was frenetic political activity in the build-up to the March 2004 antitrust ruling," Todd said.

Tom Brookes, Microsoft's spokesman in Brussels, said he was unaware of the intervention when asked for comment today.

The action in the Microsoft case came as the company's top lawyers arrived in Brussels to make a final attempt to convince the regulators not to impose daily fines on the company.

The commission has accused Microsoft of failing to provide technical documentation about its Windows operating system, which it is required to reveal under the 2004 antitrust ruling.