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Antitrust status conference on tap for Microsoft
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| Microsoft and antitrust regulators will be back in federal court on Thursday,
| for a regularly scheduled status conference on the software giant's
| compliance with the final judgment order stemming from its historic consent
| decree.
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10048645-92.html
Microsoft told to remove anti-suit clauses
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| JAPAN'S Fair Trade Commission has told Microsoft, the world's largest
| software maker, to void clauses that it says violate anti-monopoly law in
| contracts with Japanese personal computer makers.
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http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,24385727-24169,00.html
Recent:
Japan trade commission rules against Microsoft
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| The Fair Trade Commission in Japan told Microsoft on Friday to void clauses
| that it said violated antimonopoly law in contracts with Japanese personal
| computer makers.
|
| Microsoft had contracts with Japanese PC makers with clauses that blocked
| them from taking legal action over patents involving the Windows operating
| system, the commission said in a statement dated yesterday, citing a Sept. 16
| ruling.
|
| The decision relates to a case going back more than four years. On July 13,
| 2004, the FTC told Microsoft to remove the anti-lawsuit clauses. The company,
| based in Redmond, Washington, excluded the conditions from new contracts
| effective Aug. 1 of that year. Clauses in contracts concluded before the
| watchdog's order are still in force, the commission's statement said.
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http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/19/technology/webmsft.php
Chinese lawyer puts Microsoft in the hot seat
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| Dong Zhengwei, a partner with Beijing-based Zhongyin law firm, has attracted
| the attention of multinational corporate executives and the legal community
| alike, after he filed a complaint against Microsoft with China’s
| anti-monopoly regulators and proposed that a US$1bn fine be imposed on the
| global software giant.
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http://asia.legalbusinessonline.com/news/breaking-news/29265/details.aspx
CF files FTC complaint against Microsoft
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| The Consumers' Foundation (CF), a private consumer watchdog, filed a
| complaint yesterday with the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) against Microsoft
| over the software giant's pulling Windows XP from the Taiwan market in line
| with its migration to the new operating system Vista.
|
| The CF urged the government body to impose sanctions on Microsoft for the
| termination of Windows XP sales in Taiwan.
|
| "We suggest that the FTC slap Microsoft with a heavy fine for impairing
| market fairness," said CF Acting Chairman Hsieh Tien-jen while delivering the
| complaint to the commission.
|
| [...]
|
| "Sixty-seven percent of local users want a return of XP to the market," he
| said, citing the results of another poll.
|
| He described Microsoft's marketing strategy as an abuse of consumer rights.
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http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/asia/%20taiwan/2008/08/16/170294/CF-files.htm
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| Poland’s Office for Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) claims
| that selling laptops with obligatorily preinstalled Microsoft's
| Windows operating system constitutes a monopolistic practice and is
| restrictive to competition....
|
| The investigation, instigated in December 2007, as a result of many
| complaints filed with the UOKiK by Polish consumers, has revealed that
| breaching antimonopoly principles in commonplace among computer
| hardware and software producers.
|
| "[Consumers] complained that they could not make their own choice of
| an operating system when buying a laptop", Malgorzata Cieloch, UOKiK's
| Spokesperson has told Gazeta Wyborcza."
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http://www.polskieradio.pl/thenews/business/?id=89689
HU: Hearing on Competition Office complaint over Microsoft deal
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| The Metropolitan Court's (Fővárosi Bíróság) second hearing on a complaint by
| Hungary's Competition Office over a government software tender
| requesting "Microsoft or equivalent solutions" is scheduled for 1 September,
| the Hungarian IT news site IT Cafe reports.
|
| The Competition Office in March decided to take the Hungarian Public
| Procurement Authority to court for refusing to annul the 25 billion HUF
| (about a 100 million euro) tender. The request to cancel the software tender
| was filed earlier that same month by three Hungarian IT companies
| specialising in Open Source software solutions, ULX, Multiráció and Open SKM.
|
| The companies say that the tender is anti-competitive since it explicitly
| calls for Microsoft products.
|
| The Public Procurement Authority denied the request.
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http://osor.eu/news/hu-hearing-on-competition-office-complaint-over-microsoft-deal
Steve Ballmer Receives the Egg-treatment in Budapest
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| Update#2: OK, enough of the fun part. As the story circulates people start
| wondering what may be the background, and since the only sources are in
| Hungarian, here’s a summary of the circumstances:
|
| A Hungarian Government bid, worth $25B Hungarian Forints, roughly $157M
| was allegedly skewed towards MS. (A ‘competitive’ bid with wording that
| all but ensures only Microsoft meets the requirements.) A Hungarian
| Watchdog Body (sort of like the FTC in the US) challenged the bidding
| process via the Court system, and a trial date was set for today. The
| trial was suddenly and unexpectedly rescheduled just as Ballmer arrived
| in Budapest. So there may be a perception of the Bully lobbying there.
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http://www.zoliblog.com/2008/05/19/steve-ballmer-receives-the-egg-treatment-in-budapest/
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