( Reuters ) A European Union court will decide on Monday whether Microsoft abused its near-monopoly position on the world's 1 billion computers and servers to push smaller competitors out of the marketplace.
The European Commission ruled in 2004 that Microsoft used its Windows operating system, running on 95 percent of the world's computers and servers, to choke off competition from rival makers of server software and streaming media software.
Microsoft challenged that decision, asking a special 13-judge Grand Chamber of the Court of First Instance to throw out the Commission's finding. It said the Commission was interfering with its right to design software as it saw fit.
The court will hand down its ruling on live television on Monday shortly after 9:30 a.m. (3:30 a.m. EDT), focusing on five aspects of the Commission's 2004 decision.
First, the court will rule whether to cut the 497 million euro ($689.9 million) fine the Commission imposed on Microsoft. Any change would have mostly symbolic value because the penalty makes no difference to Microsoft's bottom line.
Second, it will decide whether to overturn sanctions imposed on Microsoft for illegally bundling its Windows Media Player with the Windows operating system. Microsoft was ordered to sell a version of Windows without Windows Media Player. Few bought it.
Third, it will decide whether the underlying decision on bundling was incorrect, which would automatically cancel the sanctions. The Commission found Microsoft had bundled Windows Media Player to hurt such rivals as RealNetworks, which once dominated the field.