New Microsoft Complaint Filed with EU

Microsoft will have another legal fight on its hands after the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) announced Wednesday it had filed an antitrust complaint with the European Union. The group consists of several tech companies, including IBM, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Nokia and RealNetworks.

ECIS claims that Microsoft's anti-competitive practices threaten choice for consumers. It asks the EU to stop the company from using its position in the marketplace to push out smaller competitors. It also pressed the EU to move faster in implementing the March 2004 antitrust decision.

The group appeared to suggest in statements from its chairman, Simon Awde, that this move was its last resort. "ECIS deeply regrets that strong antitrust law enforcement appears to be the only way to stop the sustained anti-competitive behavior of Microsoft," he said.

Microsoft Office was fingered as one of the biggest examples of Microsoft's abuse. ECIS claims that the Redmond company is withholding information that would allow competing applications to interoperate more smoothly with the ubiquitous productivity suite.

ECIS is also seeking to stop Microsoft from bundling any other software that could potentially help it to further extend its market dominance to other areas.

Microsoft shot back at the group, saying it was now expected that competitors would complain each time a new product is released.

The company went even further, telling the Wall Street Journal Wednesday that the ECIS is "is a front for IBM and a few other competitors who constantly seek to use the regulatory process to their business advantage." Microsoft plans to cooperate fully with any investigation.