March 2010

ECIS sends open letter to the European Commission regarding the Europe 2020 communication. The open letter is available here.

March 2, 2010

ECIS asks others join with Europe to offer browser choice

ECIS calls on competition agencies around the world to give their consumers the benefit of browser choice, which will spur competition and improve the Web experience for all. 

A statement made on behalf of ECIS is available here.

December 16, 2009

ECIS welcomes today's decision by the European Commission to approve the browser settlement

ECIS Chairman Simon Awde in his open letter to Commissioner Kroes thanks the Commission for the results that they have obtained in the Microsoft case. The open letter is available here.  A statement made on behalf of ECIS can be found here.

April 15, 2009

ECIS accepted as intervenor in EC browser case

The European Commission recognised ECIS as an interested third party in support of the Commission’s preliminary findings that Microsoft is violating EU antitrust law by tying its Internet Explorer (IE) web browser to its dominant Windows operating system present on over 90% of all personal computers.  A statement made on behalf of ECIS is available here.

ECIS member Opera has recently released a video explaining the importance of choice of web browsers and why Microsoft has an artificial competitive advantage over other browsers like Opera and Firefox.  For more information click here.

March 31, 2009

Microsoft's history of anticompetitive behaviour and consumer harm

Microsoft's conduct over the last two decades has demonstrated Microsoft's willingness and ability to engage in unlawful conduct to protect and extend its core monopolies.  This conduct has caused real harm to consumers, who continue to pay high prices and use lower quality products than would have prevailed in a competitive market.  This paper aims to help developers, consumer groups, and government authorities better to understand Microsoft's history of anticompetitive conduct and to recognise its current and future misconduct at an early stage in order to intervene to prevent Microsoft from using tactics other than competition on the merits.  For more information click here. 

A statement made on behalf of ECIS on the European Commission's issuance of a statement of objections as a further step in its investigation of the complaint submitted in 2007 by browser provider and ECIS member Opera is available here.

January 1, 2009

2009 - the year ECIS celebrates its 20th anniversary: two decades of advocacy in support of interoperability, balanced intellectual property protection, competitive markets, consumer welfare and innovation

The European Committee for Interoperable Systems was founded in Brussels in 1989.  It played an important role in securing provisions benefitting interoperability provisions in the 1991 Software Copyright Directive, and numerous intellectual property initiatives since at European and international level. ECIS Chairman Simon Awde was already present in the early days of ECIS representing what was then Amdahl (since acquired by Fujitsu).  He notes: "Much has changed since the founding of ECIS, except what ECIS stands for."

November 20, 2008

Community patent and litigation system must offer high quality, balanced protection and legal certainty

ECIS submitted comments to the European Commission on the Community patent and EU patent judiciary system. As ECIS points out in its comments, a Community patent system worth adopting must be balanced, ensure high quality patents and judicial decisions, and be reliable and ensure legal certainty to all interested parties. PDF download.

November 3, 2008

ECIS calls for a balanced EU IPR strategy

In its comments on the Communication from the European Commission about "An Industrial Property Rights Strategy for Europe" ECIS calls on the EU to guard against increasing intellectual property protection as a purpose in and of itself as opposed to a means to an end, namely increased innovation and greater welfare for society.  More here.

September 20, 2008

Draft European Interoperability Framework (EIF) v2.0 recognises importance of interoperability in European eGovernment

In its comments submitted to the European Commission, ECIS notes that EIF 2.0, if adopted and implemented, would make a significant contribution to encouraging openness and genuine interoperability across borders and software applications used in European eGovernment.  The Draft recognises
interoperability as a key means to promote efficient pan-European Government Services
("PEGS"). ECIS supports these goals and encourages the Commission to adopt EIF v2.0 as a mechanism to achieve them. For more click here.