Microsoft turns to U.S. for EU Antitrust Help

An anonymous reader writes "The NY times reports that Microsoft has asked U.S. goverment officials to intervene on their behalf in the EU antitrust case. The US (through diplomatic channels) has asked the court to be 'fair'." From the article: "Microsoft has complained frequently in recent months that it has been denied the right to a fair defense in the continuing antitrust case with the European Commission. It has also accused the commission of collaborating with its rivals in the software industry and denying it access to what it contends are vital documents it needs to prepare its defense. A memo written by unidentified government officials in Washington stated that Microsoft's complaints raise 'substantial concerns' about the way Microsoft is being treated, according to a person close to the commission who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the memo."

Comments

Re:Why?!

[malkavian]

Actually, it goes more like:
US company comes into EU, gets treated nicely.
Said company breaks laws in EU, gets taken to court (anti trust).
Company gets upset that people have told it that it's being naughty, asks US to back it up, because it's not fair, people are picking on it.
US tells company to grow up and deal with it like everyone else.

Re:Mummy, mummy, bad people try to scare me

[SirGeek]

It's fair for the EU to ask for documentation, but every attempt by MS to give them anything has resulted in the EU throwing it away. At the moment, it looks like the EU have already decided to fine MS no matter what they do, which isn't fair even for a company with a bad history.

Microsoft is doing anything and everything to NOT obey the courts order. They are supplying half-assed documentation that the oversite expert ( suggsted by Microsoft ) says the document is useless. They haven't done the "unbundling" that they were ordered to do either.