Contacts are continuing to seek a settlement to the European Commission"s antitrust case against U.S. software giant Microsoft, a source close to the case said on Monday. The source confirmed a comment by Microsoft"s general counsel last Saturday that the company was talking to the Commission about a possible agreement that could avert a ruling that might impose penalties and a large fine on the world"s biggest company. The case concerns Commission accusations that Microsoft abuses its dominant market position and restricts competition by tying its Media Player program for playing video and music to its ubiquitous Windows operating system.
EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti and Microsoft founder Bill Gates both attended the World Economic Forum in Davos at the weekend but both sides said they did not meet. Bradford Smith, senior vice-president, corporate and legal affairs, general counsel and corporate secretary of Microsoft told Reuters on Saturday: "We"re hopeful to work something out (with the Commission), but those discussions are not taking place in Davos. This is not the right place." He said he had been in the same room as Monti, but it had been full of other people and they were on opposite sides. His comments came after an internal consultation paper was circulated in the Commission last week, which referred to the possibility of a large fine, without spelling out the size.