This article by Robert X. Cringely is discussed at Slashdot. The author says that the record-setting EU fine against Microsoft is too small to achieve anything. My comment to this on Slashdot:
Anyone assuming that the EU commission can be ignored safely because they don't have strong enough sanctions available might be in for a nasty surprise.
$600 million might be not ever so much compared to Microsoft's profits.
However, if they stubbornly insist on violating European competition law, for example by not following the specific orders about unbundling and making available information, the EU could rather quickly fine them again. Maybe a billion this time.
And if that doesn't help, another two billion a few weeks later. A billion here, a billion there, and before you know it, you are talking about real money.
From May 1st on, the Commission also has the power to impose periodic penalty payments under Article 24 of Regulation 1/2003 on top of any additional fines.
The system would obviously be broken if anyone making a profit of more than 10 percent of turnover by violating competition law could get away with cashing the difference between that profit and the fine.
We will see what happens. I don't agree with the idea that EU competition law can be safely ignored.
Posted by Karl-Friedrich Lenz at April 3, 2004 10:35 AM | TrackBack