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April
20, 2006
ECIS to appear as intervener before the
European court in Luxembourg in support of the European Commission
-- will oppose Microsoft's attempts to avoid antitrust law and limit
consumers' software choices
The European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) will present
its arguments before the European Court of First Instance (CFI) in
support of the European Commission and its 24 March 2004 Decision
finding Microsoft abused its overwhelmingly dominant position in PC
operating systems by preventing interoperability by refusing to provide
interface information and tying Windows Media Player with the Windows
operating system. ECIS strongly supports the Decision's conclusions
with regard to refusal to provide interoperability information and
illegal tying, which both address Microsoft practices aimed at eliminating
consumer choice.
The CFI hearings start on 24 April 2006 and are
expected to last until 28 April 2006.
ECIS is admitted as a third party intervener in the case in support
of the Commission. ECIS is closely coordinating its contribution
with the other interveners supporting the Commission, the Software
and Information Industries Association (SIIA), multimedia software
provider VideoBanner.com
, and the Free
Software Foundation Europe (FSFE).
For more information regarding ECIS' participation in the CFI hearings
in the Microsoft case, contact ECIS at info@e-c-i-s.org.
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