Microsoft responded to European Commission charges of market abuse Wednesday in a hearing in which a lawyer said its chief executive will be shown dismissing "monopoly" as a game he plays with his kids. Microsoft is defending itself against European Union regulators' charges that it abused its dominance of desktop computer operating systems.
Michael Hausfeld, a lawyer who has brought class actions against Microsoft in the United States on behalf of consumers, said he will show a videotaped deposition of Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer at the European Commission competition hearing to illustrate the company's culture.
"We asked him (Ballmer)--this is after Microsoft has undergone four investigations and one trial (on) two continents--if he has any understanding of the word 'monopoly,'" Hausfeld, who practices in Washington, D.C., told reporters as he entered the building.
"He actually laughed and said, 'Yes, I play it with my children,'" Hausfeld said. "I don't think that's an indication of someone who takes his obligations seriously."
U.S. courts have found that Microsoft has abused monopoly power it holds through its Windows desktop system for personal computers.
Hausfeld's presentation, set for Thursday evening, is one of many in the three-day closed hearing, which began with Microsoft's presentation.
The hearing is presided over by European Commission officer Karen Williams, who will give her recommendations in a confidential memo to EU competition chief Mario Monti.
The commission says Microsoft used its Windows system's dominance of desktop operating systems to squeeze out rival software companies in the markets for playing music and video files and for running basic computer networks.
The Commission is considering forcing Microsoft to remove its multimedia software from Windows and to tell rivals how to get Windows to work better with server software. The Commission has also told Microsoft that it plans to fine the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant. It is expected to make a decision in the spring of 2004.
The Redmond response
"We have a straightforward presentation that will help bring to the commission some important points,' Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler told reporters after arriving for the hearing.
The Financial Times said the probe against the software titan could also be extended to looking at unfair bundling of programs within the Windows XP system, something the Computer and Communications Industry Association, a group backed by Microsoft rivals, complained about in February.
At the same time the hearings are taking place, Microsoft is still attempting to reach a compromise with the commission.
"It is another opportunity to continue our discussion," Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith told reporters.
Asked if negotiations with the Commission would produce a settlement, he said, "Hope springs eternal."
"Microsoft's behavior has in no way limited its competitors' ability to interoperate with the Windows server operating system," the company said in a statement. "Microsoft's actions have been pro-competitive and have resulted in products that offer great benefits to European consumers."
A CCIA attorney said the software giant would be pulling out all the stops.
"They have set up a whole Hollywood theater in there," Thomas Vinje said. At presentations during antitrust trials in Washington, D.C., Microsoft made extensive use of video and computer presentations to make some of its points.
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