|
Microsoft Says EU Case All About Intellectual Property
Published: May 3, 2006
by Alex Woodie
Microsoft's hearing at Court of First Instance is over, and there are a lot of questions about how the panel of judges will rule on Microsoft's appeal of the European Commission's 2004 decision. Microsoft maintains it has done everything possible to comply with the EC's request to share information that would help other vendors write software that works with Windows Server, and says providing any more would be akin to giving away its intellectual property.
"The outcome of this case is critical not only for Microsoft, but for future innovation in our industry," Microsoft general counsel, Brad Smith, said in a statement published Friday. "Companies need to have confidence they won't be forced to hand over their valuable intellectual property to their competitors. In addition, companies need to have confidence they can develop new products with the features their customers want."
However, Microsoft's competitors in this case, including IBM, Oracle, and Sun Microsystems, disagree. A lawyer with European Committee for Interoperable Systems, doesn't see this as a case of protecting intellectual property.
"Microsoft is trying to turn this into an intellectual property case, but it is not," said Thomas Vine, legal counsel for ECIS. "Protocol specifications are really just 'rules of the road' for connecting two different software products. They have little or no inherent innovative or technological value worthy of intellectual property protection."
Before the hearing closed on Friday, Microsoft lawyer Ian Forrester asked the 13- judge panel to throw out the $613 million fine the EC levied on the software giant in 2004. The panel is expected to take months to come to a decision.
|
