Microsoft announced that the company has submitted a response to the EC’s Statement of Objections (SO) regarding the pricing of the Workgroup Server Protocol Program, which would allow rival makers of workgroup servers to make their product work smoothly with Windows.

Microsoft Senior VP Brad Smith said, the company would not request an oral hearing on the pricing issue, one of its rights. “We continue to seek to resolve these recent issues,” Smith added. “We need greater clarity on what prices the Commission wants us to charge, and we believe that is more likely to come from a constructive conversation than from a formal hearing.”

The EC responded to Microsoft’s statement, saying that it will take it into consideration and “decide whether to impose a daily penalty on Microsoft for failure to comply with the March 2004 decision.”

The Commission ordered Microsoft to disclose the information as part of its antitrust settlement with the company in 2004, but the two have been at odds over how that information has been documented as well as pricing.

Under the terms of the antitrust ruling, Microsoft is supposed to disclose complete and accurate interface documentation on ‘reasonable and non-discriminatory terms’ to allow non-Microsoft work group servers to inter-operate with Windows PCs and servers.

On March 1, the EU’s Competition Commission, which is led by Neelie Kroes of the Netherlands attacked Microsoft for continuing to gain market share using tactics barred by the commission in its 2004 anti-trust ruling. Then, the commission filed an official statement of objections. Originally, the commission gave Microsoft until April 3 to respond to its objections, but late last month it extended the deadline to today at Microsoft’s request.

If the Commission is unsatisfied with the response, Microsoft faces fines of up to US$4.07 million a day for non-compliance.

The EU-Microsoft case, which began in the 1990s, resulted in a $613 million fine in 2004. Last July, the commission added another $373 million in fines. Microsoft has appealed both fines and still awaiting a decision from the EU court.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 at 11:32 pm under Legal, Microsoft, Technology.

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