EU Gives Microsoft 8 Days Until Fines

kaysan writes "European Commissioner Neelie Kroes has presented Microsoft with an ultimatum: Before Thursday next week, Microsoft must hand over all secret information on Windows protocols to its competition. Should the company choose to ignore this demand, it will be severely fined. Microsoft's history with EU fines so far amounts to approximately Euro777.5 million. Both linked websites are Dutch, but then again, so is EU commissioner Neelie Kroes."

Comments

Re:countdown

[91degrees]

And the related ones questioning why the EU has jurisdiction over a business that operates within the EU.

Re:I don't get it, who does this help?

[plantman-the-womb-st]

Since IAAP (I am a paralegal) I say this. You simply fail to grasp the difference between something that is illegal and something that can be sued over.

An example. I build a set of stone steps for peoples gardens that resemble the function of other stone steps. I in fact base it on a popular design. I sell these from my basement. after a few years I'm selling them from a website or two and I have a large customer base. The manufacturer that made the original design I based mine on notices a decline in profits. The see me and my business, and in short order realize that I'm basically selling their product, but they had it first. At this stage they do not press the local prosecutor to file criminal charges against me because this practice is NOT ILLEGAL. What they do decide to do is estimate the size of my war chest. They determine that if they sue me for damaging their business by competing with a knockoff of their own product they can probably force me to settle or at the least my counsel won't be as aggressive as theirs. So they sue. They cry at the judge "Wah! he hurt our busy-ness!". The matter is then a civil one. It's up to the judge to decide if I willfully set out to damage their business.

I don't get sued for "reverse engineering" their stone steps, I get sued for entering a market and competing with the unfair advantage gained by reverse engineering in a direct attempt to gain market dominance over their pre-existing established business. I can reverse engineer to my hearts content, but if those what did the original work start losing money because of me, they will cry foul.

Get the difference?

Something illegal is criminal and punishable by law. A law suit is two or more entities disputing over damages inflicted by one of the two against the other and are now attempting to either recover said damages or refute the claims that damage was inflicted.