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Microsoft lawsuit 443m
xluciferx
Member Posts: 162
I just heard on the radio that the giant microsoft was sued for around 443m for 'abusing they're position as the leader in the industry'
My details are sketchy and i cant find this on google, so do you guys have any interesting info?
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happens every couple of months for varying ammounts and varying reasons.
MS has some grand ol lawyers.
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Lead Gameplay and Gameworld Designer for a yet unnamed MMO Title.
"When people tell me designing a game is easy, I try to get them to design a board game. Most people don't last 5 minutes, the rest rarely last more then a day. The final few realize it's neither fun nor easy."
Um, who cares? jk. Truthfully I don't think 443m puts any dent in what they make. It's more like a scratch. And being sued doesn't mean that they lose. Things like this last forever in court. If the claim has some weight to it, probably will be settled out of court.
Edit: someone was thinking the same thing as far as Scratch, guess you posted as I was writing...lol.
I can't seem to find anything about this on Google either but I read it on national newspapers here in Sweden aswell. Apparently it's the European Union that suits Microsoft for abusing it's dominant position in the market.
For those of you who know swedish you can read about it here: http://www.metro.se/se/article/tt/2007/09/17/microsoftdom/index.xml
For those of you who don't (and do) here's the English report filed by the European Union (PDF): http://www.curia.europa.eu/en/actu/communiques/cp07/aff/cp070063en.pdf
It doesn't surprise me one bit though. If you search the Microsoft vs. Google incidents, you'll likely see similarity in what is going on. Microsoft has always thought they are top shit, that they are numero uno in the industry. It's all competition with them, just look at them and Apple for example, look at MacOS X/Vista. Makes you think, right? 443 million? That isn't going to be a huge loss for Microsoft.
Ah, yes, the EU. That would explain it. Seems to be plenty of people over there who don't necessarily believe in the free market or capitalism, but I guess that's a US thing anyway.
If I were MS and I lost the suit, I'd pack up all operations in Europe, shut them down, and pull out of the country. Can't collect from a company if it doesn't do business in your country. Then Europe would be without official access and/or support for Windows.
Actually, I wouldn't because MS makes plenty of money anyway. It was just a half-cocked evil idea that struck me when I read this thread.
Its some third party software developers who are suing if I understood it right. Obviously since Microsoft owns windows, they can develop software that best caiters to it and the other developers feel that MS isn't giving them the proper resources to do the same, thus accusing microsoft of monopolizing software for windows, since they near monopolize the whole OS market as well.
monopolies are bad for consumers.
Microsoft Officials to Meet with EU Judge on July 27
Brussels -- Officials from the European Court of First Instance said late Tuesday that Judge Bo Vesterdorf would hold an informal meeting on July 27 with Microsoft and other interested parties to discuss the software giant's request to suspend EU sanctions against it. Court officials also said the informal meeting could possibly be followed by a formal hearing. Four months ago, the European Commission ruled that Microsoft must release a version of Windows without Microsoft's Media Player and pay a 497-million-euro ($614 million) fine. Microsoft has paid the fine, but appealed the antitrust ruling. It is now asking that sanctions against it be suspended until the appeal process, which could take several years, is complete. Separately, Reuters earlier this week quoted Microsoft lawyer Brad Smith as saying that a recent antitrust victory for the company in the U.S. addressed "many of the precisely same questions that are front and center in Europe." http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2004/07/07/microsoft-officials-to-meet-with-eu-judge-on-july-27
For those who can read dutch
> http://www.rtl.nl/(/actueel/rtlnieuws/vrijetijd_lifestyle/articleview/)/components/actueel/rtlnieuws/2007/09_september/17/vrijetijd_lifestyle/0917_0945_microsoft_verliest.xml
They should be careful...someday Bill's going to trigger the little switch inside Windows and he will take over all of their computers and hold them hostage....
oh wait...will probably just get a BSoD and a reboot will clear it.... nm
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
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"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Lol...Microsoft getting sued for 443 million? yeah right. If they did they would brush it off with their lawyers and massive money intake.
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Curt teh Juggler: it was quite possibly the most amazing thing ever.
That's nuts that someone can order them to release a version without windows media player and get paid for that order. What's next, "I am suing you for 700million so that you can release a version of windows that doesn't contain windows at all.".
Well we all knew they were trying to monopolize the industry, it seems that only now there's someone who had the balls to stand up to them, I wish they'd do the same for the games industry with companies like SOE and such, their blatant buyout tactics and bait and switch policies are the very reasons the industry is in the mess it is in.
Quoting people doesn't make you clever, in fact, it makes you all the more stupid for not bothering to read the quotes you post in the first place.
Please don't try to turn this into an 'I hate soe' debate, just go to the appropriate forum to do that, this is for proper discussion.
If microsoft didn't exist humanity wouldn't be what it is now.
I was actually referencing to SOE, I wasn't trying to start a flame war, though I wouldn't say I didn't hate microsoft just as much for the kind of stunts they try to pull off with the computer and software industry, as for humanity not being what they are now? I reckon we'd be better off, we'd have a much better variety of software packages and the computer industry would have lots of healthy competitors, I don't have as much experience in this industry as the Games Industry but I can safely say that they are very similar in the way they practice, also, there's no appropriate forum to debate about SOE, we can debate about it wherever we like, so unless your a moderator telling me off, please keep your comments to yourself.
Quoting people doesn't make you clever, in fact, it makes you all the more stupid for not bothering to read the quotes you post in the first place.
Is it just me or is this statement pretty amusing? I didn't know the EU was a country.
Say what you want about how Microsoft sucks, but their software unified the world under basically one operating system (for better or worse) and now it is much easier for developers to code games that reach all of us (ask MAC users how much fun it is to be the odd man out) and when I create a Word document, damn near everyone on the Internet can download and read it.
We needed standards, and MS provided them. Right now they are being fined for giving away free software as part of their operating system, which means that some other company loses out on the opportunity to charge me for it...... oh yeah...thats a real improvement, sure glad I'm getting that choice....
Oh wait..I live in the US...i won't have to face that problem.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Would of happened eventually, and to whoever thinks its not a big deal get a clue? its against the law to abuse your position as a market leader, aka forcing people out of the market by preventing them from being competitive. In Microsoft case they purposely designed their products to not work with other 3rd party software, thus making them the only ones who can compete in the market.
This makes future companies unable to compete and thus go into liquidation, if only one company is competitive in a market they can dictate all prices you wouldn't have any choice, it would ruin the economy which is why these laws are in place to prevent it. If they continued to abuse it the government can and most likely will step in a put severe penalties on them, which can easily ruin the company even one as big as Microsoft.
Is it just me or is this statement pretty amusing? I didn't know the EU was a country.
Hey. Dude. Didn't you know? This is the internet. The more retarded the comment the more right it is.
Now for all of you people who have a hard time pressing that impossible to find "news" button on Google (you can't be blamed, you never use it) I'll give you peeps an overview.
Source:
September 17, 2007 (Computerworld) -- As the long-awaited decision on Microsoft's appeal of the 2004 antitrust ruling in the European Union was handed down today, headlines used phrases ranging from "stinging" to "stunning" to describe the American company's legal defeat. But with the ruling weighing in at 200-plus pages, we need a Cliff Notes version, a just-the-FAQs edition. What happened today, and what does it mean? Some of the opening-hours answers follow.
What did the EU court do today? The Court of First Instance rejected Microsoft's appeal, and confirmed both of the behaviors the European Union's Competition Commission said were illegal. The first problem, the Commission said in its 2004 judgment, was bundling, or "tying," Windows Media Player to the operating system. The second -- and the issue that has caused virtually all the contention between regulators and the U.S. company -- is that Microsoft used the dominance of Windows on the desktop to jack up its share of the server software market. The Court said the Commission's moves were correct in both cases.
The Court also reaffirmed the $613 million fine the Commission originally slapped on Microsoft, saying today that "the Commission did not err in assessing the gravity and duration of the infringement and did not err in setting the amount of the fine."
I'm a sports fan. Who won, who lost? Although experts and analysts thought last week that it might take days to shake out an answer to those questions, it took just minutes. Microsoft's general counsel, Brad Smith, clearly saw it as a major loss by Microsoft. "The decision is a disappointing one for Microsoft," Smith said in a news conference held shortly after the Court rejected the appeal.
Neelie Kroes, the EU's chief antitrust regulator, saw it the same way. "The Court ruling shows that the Commission was right," she said in a statement. "Microsoft must now comply fully with its legal obligations to desist from engaging in anti-competitive conduct."
If you're keeping score at home, it's EU 1, Microsoft 0.
When did this start? Today's ruling can be traced back to August 2000, when the European Union's Competition Commission filed its first "Statement of Objections," or official complaint, against Microsoft. The first of five (so far), that complaint accused Microsoft of withholding technical information that would have let other server operating system developers make their products interoperate with Windows clients. The actual ruling at issue today, however, stems from the decision handed down March 24, 2004, when the Commission ordered Microsoft to pay a $613 million fine, sell a version of Windows without Media Player and provide rivals with the information they needed to make their server software run more smoothly with Windows.
How long has the Court had this case? The day the Commission announced its ruling and fine, Microsoft said it would ask the Court to stay some of the Commissions sanctions pending an appeal. "I do expect that we'll ask the court to suspend the part of the order that would require us to produce a second version of Windows that has the Media Player code stripped out of it," Microsoft's general counsel Brad Smith said at the time.
It wasn't until June 7, 2004, however, that Microsoft filed its appeal with the Court, and nearly three weeks later -- June 27 -- that it officially asked the Court to suspend the Commission's orders pending appeal.
The Court held two days of hearings on the stay request on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, 2004. A little less than three months later -- on Dec. 22 -- the Court ruled against Microsoft, telling it to toe the Commission's line, appeal notwithstanding. Microsoft had not proved that complying with the sanctions would cause "serious and irreparable harm" to its business, the court said.
During a week-long session April 24-28, 2006, the Court of First Instance listened to arguments from lawyers representing both Microsoft and the Commission. Then, on July 17, the Court announced it would issue its decision today, Sept. 17.
Will this be the end of it? Either party can appeal to the European Court of Justice, the EU's highest court, but only on orders of law. As of mid-day Monday, Microsoft had not said whether it would file such an appeal. "We just need to think about this," said Smith said today. "It's a serious and substantial decision and it deserves serious thought rather than an instantaneous decision."
What's next? Smith was anything but confrontational in his news conference minutes after the decision. "We are 100% committed to complying with every aspect of the Commission's decision," he said. How that happens, however, particularly with regard to the protocols that Microsoft must offer rivals, is still somewhat up in the air. During his news conference, Smith noted that there were "a couple of issues that need to be sorted out," and listed them as the licensing pricing and the protection of trade secrets. Microsoft and the Commission have butted heads repeatedly over the protocols, resulting in additional fines levied by the antitrust regulators.
What's this I heard about Congress jumping into the fray? You heard right. Hours after the Court issued its decision, Rep. Robert Wexler, (D-Fla.), announced that he would hold a hearing in the subcommittee he chairs in the House Committee of Foreign Affairs on the ruling. "The European Court decision today sets a dangerous precedent and will have a dramatic impact on US-EU economic relations," Wexler said in a statement. "I am concerned that American high tech companies, including Microsoft, are being unfairly targeted by zealous European Commission regulators."
What does this mean for me, Average Windows User? That's hard to pin down with certainty, but some things seem clearer now. What won't change are the remedies Microsoft's already applied in the EU. The company must continue to sell separate versions of Windows in the EU that have been stripped of Media Player, for example. And it must deliver the protocols necessary for rivals to write server software that works with Windows. Undoubtedly, today's ruling will put more pressure on Microsoft to agree to the Commission's demands for more information on the protocols, and to reduce the licensing fees for those protocols.
Down the road, however, changes may continue to be asked of Microsoft, and perhaps other technology companies as well.
Talk of a chilling effect on bundling started to circulate even before today's decision, and gathered steam after the fact. "We haven't heard the last of the legal challenges to Microsoft's bundling practices by any means," Herbert Hovenkamp, an expert on antitrust law at the University of Iowa College of Law, told the The New York Times this morning.
In addition, the outstanding complaint made last year by a group backed by IBM Corp. might now be shoved to the forefront. The group charged in February 2006 that Microsoft had stymied competition to its Office suite with its proprietary document formats.
Even before the Court's ruling today, however, pressure from rivals had been sufficient to get the company to announced changes to Windows Vista. Although complaints to the Commission last year about Vista's PatchGuard technology did not result in any former action by the EU, it did push Microsoft to promise APIs (application programming interfaces) that will allow security developers limited access to information going into the kernel. And like regulators in the U.S., the Commission questioned Vista's search features after Google grumbled. In the latter case, Microsoft made concessions that will be implemented in Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1).
Some analysts have also warned that the affirmation by the Court will embolden the Commission to make new charges of market dominance against the likes of Apple Inc. or Google Inc., which own the bulk of Europe's digital music and Web search business, respectively.
Who might be next on the Commission's list? Apple. On Wednesday and Thursday, the Commission will hold hearings into iTunes' pricing. This is the follow-up to the Commission's April accusations, when it said Apple and the four biggest record labels charged customers in different EU countries different prices for digital music.
End
More information (to further discredit more of you peoples ramblings) on Wikipeda.
ILL SUMMARIZE IT FOR YOU LOT:
Microsoft just got owned majorly. So far the EC (European Commission, executive branch of the EU) is the only organ able to carry out a ruling like ths and enforce it. The US has tried so in the past but Microsoft used its army of lawyers to bitchslap the US government into submission.
There isn't a thing Microsoft can do besides higher appeal. The EU is the largest unified market n the world and the largest economy.
Either they pay up or they take ther busness elsewhere. If they choose the latter they lose hundreds of millions of customers. And Linux gains them. Or people just down Windows illegally.
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hey u should post more often,thats a damm good idea.haha ahh the truth of it is so sweet..europe is so funny
hey u should post more often,thats a damm good idea.haha ahh the truth of it is so sweet..europe is so funny
A larger font doesn't make you smarter. In your case silence does.
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They got sued for evidence of them trying to take over the market and push out any competition.
IMO Microsoft should F**k off because Linux is just 1000 times better and everyone should be using it.
hey u should post more often,thats a damm good idea.haha ahh the truth of it is so sweet..europe is so funny
A larger font doesn't make you smarter. In your case silence does.
ahhh...look at it like this america is the head and europe this the tail !!!!
Trade in material assumptions for spiritual facts and make permanent progress.
hey u should post more often,thats a damm good idea.haha ahh the truth of it is so sweet..europe is so funny
A larger font doesn't make you smarter. In your case silence does.
ahhh...look at it like this america is the head and europe this the tail !!!!
"this the tail" ??
hey u should post more often,thats a damm good idea.haha ahh the truth of it is so sweet..europe is so funny
A larger font doesn't make you smarter. In your case silence does.
ahhh...look at it like this america is the head and europe this the tail !!!!
"this the tail" ??
Don't let his bad spelling, lack of grammar, crappy punctuation and non-existent argumentation dstract you from his perfect analysis of global politics.
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