May 22, 2009

Computerworld - Microsoft on Thursday said it had canceled an oral hearing set for early next month over EU antitrust allegations that it "shields" Internet Explorer (IE) from competition, saying that senior regulators won't be attending.

The European Union's Competition Commission had scheduled the hearing for June 3-5, when Microsoft would be allowed to argue against charges made in January that the company has an unfair distribution advantage because it includes IE with its operating system.

Microsoft blamed an inflexible EU for the cancellation, saying that a scheduling conflict meant European decision makers would be absent, making any presentation a waste of time.

Two The dates the commission selected for our hearing, June 3-5, coincide with the most important worldwide intergovernmental competition law meeting, the International Competition Network (ICN) meeting, which will take place this year in Zurich, Switzerland," Dave Heiner, deputy counsel for Microsoft, said in a post to a company blog. "As a result, it appears that many of the most influential commission and national competition officials with the greatest interest in our case will be in Zurich and so unable to attend our hearing in Brussels."

When Microsoft submitted a several-hundred-page written response to the EU allegations, it was also given the June dates for a possible hearing. The company immediately asked the commission to reschedule, said Heiner. The commission refused.