Brussels, September 11:

The bitter legal battle between the European commission and Microsoft (MS) over its alleged monopoly plumbed new depths when the world’s largest software group filed a new suit to protect its secret source codes. The protracted battle, which saw the commission’s competition authority fine Microsoft a record Euro497 million for abuse of its dominant position as long ago as March 2004, now threatens to continue well into 2007 — or even longer. Yesterday the company said it had filed an ‘application for annulment’ on August 10 with the court of first instance, Europe’s second highest court, “specifically concerning the issue of broad licences in source code form of communications protocols which are based on Microsoft’s intellectual property”.

Microsoft lost an initial appeal at the court last December over commission rulings that it should open up its software protocols to rivals so they can make Workgroup-Servers compatible with Windows and produce a version of Windows without its Media Player audiovisual software. The company has yet to implement interim sanctions in full. Its latest case, which has infuriated commission officials, arises from the stand-off in early summer over ‘open source’ software suppliers. It is insisted that MS should allow such rivals to publish or circulate these protocols within their own source codes when they are non-innovative. The US group says this would erode or even destroy its global intellectual property rights.