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EU Trade Commissioner Enjoyed MS Hospitality

Posted by Zonk on from the questionable-company dept.

Brian Blessed writes "Today's edition of The Times contains a report that Peter Mandelson, the EU (European Union) Trade Commissioner, spent New Year's Eve as a guest of Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, in the Carribean on Mr Allen's luxury yacht. The story mentions the conflict of interest that this causes because of the protracted legal battle between Microsoft and the European Commission. Perhaps the Trade Commissioner has also been in a position to influence the progress of European Software Patent legislation?"

2 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. Doesnt matter who he spends his time with by rjdohnert · · Score: 1, Troll

    Paul Allen is no longer an employee, partner or shareholder at Microsoft anymore. He gave up everything. The European Council put on Microsoft one of the largest fines EVER imposed by the EU so I doubt very much he was influenced. As for Software patents, I cant wait until they pass, Im a huge supporter.

  2. EU better than US? by sac13 · · Score: 0, Troll

    I admit that the powers that be in the US are corrupt. There are many people that claim we have a monopoly on that. It's nice to actually see some evidence on Slashdot that the holier-than-thou Europeans are just as greedy... that subject tends to get ignored by a lot of people around here.

    Now mod me flamebait...