Author(s)
Stephen Haber,
F. Scott Kieff and Troy Paredes
Source
Washington Times, October 5, 2007
Summary
This op-ed considers the decision of a European Union court against Microsoft.
Policy Relevance
Competition cases can be a pretext for authorities’ decisions to target firms based in another country.
Main Points
- The European Court chose to uphold the ruling of European regulators against Microsoft, based on competition law.
- The reasoning behind the regulators’ actions was very weak, and the remedy they proposed will not help consumers.
- This suggests that regulators had a motive other than concern with competition, such as a desire to squelch a firm based in the United States.
- Other U.S. firms, such as Qualcomm, should also be concerned.
