EU to Review Microsoft DRM Buy

The European Commission said Friday it will reopen its review of a deal in which Microsoft and Time Warner plan to jointly acquire digital rights management provider ContentGuard from parent Xerox. But the impact of the review remains uncertain now, as French electronics company Thomson has since joined the deal.

ContentGuard offers technology to prevent copying of protected files and has created eXtensible rights Markup Language (XrML), which it is pushing for industry adoption.

At issue is whether Microsoft's control of ContentGuard will broaden Microsoft's dominance in the digital media space, and allow Redmond to vertically integrate into other markets. Consumer giant Sony is already a licensee of ContentGuard.

The EU expressed initial objections to the proposed takeover last October, but in November, Thomson decided to buy into the deal with a 33 percent voting stake. Microsoft hoped the addition of Thomson would alleviate concerns from European regulators.

A final resolution was expected in early January, but the EU review was put on hold in November. The European Commission now plans to go ahead with an examination of the deal and will make its decision on April 7. However, the EU will not consider Thomson's stake, potentially making any result irrelevant.

"Microsoft has provided the information which was necessary; we are examining the original deal," said European Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd.