In October 2011, the European Commission approved the $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype by Microsoft, just a few days before the deal from Microsoft to buy the VoIP company officially closed. At a court cast this week, however, Cisco will make the case that the Commission made a number of "manifest errors" in allowing the Microsoft-Skype deal to go forward.
Reuters reports that Cisco will take its case to the General Court of the European Union on Wednesday. The company announced in February 2012 that it would appeal the Commission"s ruling, but it"s unlikely that the general court will overturn the Commission"s decision.
Cisco has been critical of Skype in the past for using what it calls proprietary standards for its service. In a November press release, Cisco said those standards hinder "Skype"s more than 600 million users from calling non-Skype users, and prevents businesses from reaching them via systems that offer services such as healthcare and job training by remote video."
Should the general court not reverse the Commission"s decision, Cisco has one more option left: It can take the case to the EU"s Court of Justice, its highest court.
Source: Reuters | Image via Microsoft