The long-awaited judgment in the Microsoft case came out an hour ago. It’s 160 pages on my printer. Quick analysis says this complex case was decided “according to what the prosecutor claims.” Among the highlights:
- The mere holding of any type of intellectual property right or trade secret is not an “objective justification” to deny the provision of any information
- Non-disclosure of interoperability information would cause negative effects on the incentives to innovate – Microsoft only presented “vague, general and theoretical arguments on that point” (para 698)
- “…standardisation may effectively present certain advantages, it cannot be allowed to be imposed unilaterally by an undertaking in a dominant position…” (para 1152)
- “Microsoft does not show that the integration of Windows Media Player in Windows creates technical efficiencies”(para 1159)