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fsfe-website/activities/ms-vs-eu/ms-vs-eu.en.xhtml

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  1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

  2. 

  3. <html>

  4.   <head>

  5.   <title>FSFE and the antitrust case against Microsoft</title>

  6. 	<meta name="project-complete" content="true" />

  7.   </head>

  8. 

  9.   <body>

  10. 

  11.     <p id="category"><a href="/work.html">Our Work</a></p>

  12.     <h1>FSFE and the antitrust case against Microsoft</h1>

  13. 

  14. <div id="introduction">

  15.     <p class="background">

  16. 		Working with the Samba developers, FSFE's role was to

  17. 		ensure that Free Software developers would not be

  18. 		prevented from using information published as a result

  19. 		of the European Commission's antitrust case against

  20. 		Microsoft. See also: <a href="background">Background

  21. 		details</a>, <a

  22. 		href="http://fsfe.org/activities/ms-vs-eu/timeline.html">Timeline

  23. 		of the case</a>.

  24.     </p>

  25. </div>

  26. 

  27.     <h2>Representation of developer's interest</h2>

  28. 

  29.     <p>

  30. 		FSFE played two key roles in this case.  First, we represented the

  31. 		interests of Free Software developers.  E.g. in our official role as

  32. 		Intervener, we pushed the European Commission to reject any royalty

  33. 		requirements that would be incompatible with Free Software.  We also

  34. 		argued constantly for the publication of good quality technical

  35. 		documentation and against lock-out of Free Software based on arbitrary

  36. 		manipulations of formats and standards.

  37.     </p>

  38. 

  39.     <h2>Incorruptible</h2>

  40. 

  41.     <p>

  42. 		Second, FSFE was a public interest organisation who couldn't be bought

  43. 		off. The case began with many companies giving testimony of Microsoft's

  44. 		breaches of antitrust regulation, but one-by-one these companies made

  45. 		deals with Microsoft and withdrew from the case. FSFE and SIIA were the

  46. 		only two organisations that pursued this case from start to finish. We

  47. 		were later joined by ECIS, who did extraordinary work, but there were

  48. 		moments when it got lonely for the Commission.

  49.     </p>

  50. 

  51.     <h2>Getting interoperability information</h2>

  52. 

  53.     <p>

  54. 		At the heart of this case was that the European Commission would require

  55. 		Microsoft to publish interoperability information.  Comparable to

  56. 		dictionaries and grammar books for human languages, this type of

  57. 		information is necessary for non-Microsoft software, such as Samba

  58. 		running on GNU/Linux, to communicate and function fully within existing

  59. 		client-server Microsoft networks.

  60.     </p>

  61.     <p>

  62. 		Previously, the Samba developers had to figure this information out by

  63. 		protocol analysis only. This information that Microsoft had was not

  64. 		secret because it was valuable. It was valuable only because it was

  65. 		secret.

  66.     </p>

  67. 

  68.     <h2>Investigation case won every ruling</h2>

  69. 

  70.     <p>

  71. 		Thanks also to the persistent work by Carlo Piana, Andrew Tridgell,

  72. 		Jeremy Allison, Volker Lendecke, Georg Greve and other people acting on

  73. 		FSFE and Samba's behalf, the investigation case won every ruling - From

  74. 		the European Commission in Brussels to the European Court of Justice in

  75. 		Luxembourg.

  76.     </p>

  77. 

  78.     <h2>Interoperable applications now possible</h2>

  79. 

  80.     <p>

  81. 		Information has now been published and is being used by the developers

  82. 		of Samba and many other projects to improve network interoperability

  83. 		for Free Software applications.  This facilitates migration to Free

  84. 		Software.  The court rulings have also set important precedents

  85. 		regarding unacceptable business practices.

  86.     </p>

  87. 

  88. <h2 id="more">More Information</h2>

  89. <ul>

  90. <li>2012-06-26/27 [NEWS &amp; ANALYSIS] <a href="http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120627-01.en.html">FSFE's

  91. comment on the final ruling by the European Court of Justice</a>.

  92. Carlo Piana, FSFE's General Counsel, <a

  93. href="http://piana.eu/msft_ends">discusses the ruling in detail</a>.</li>

  94. <li>2011-05-31 [INTERVIEW] <a href="http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20110530202005299">European Commission vs. Microsoft – The On-going Saga. Groklaw interview with Karsten Gerloff and Carlo Piana</a></li>

  95.   <li>2011-05-27 [BLOG] <a href="http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2011/05/27/samba-case-hearing-how-microsofts-gamble-backfired-2/">Samba case hearing: How Microsoft’s gamble backfired</a> - A summary of the hearing</li>

  96.   <li>2011-05-25 [NEWS] <a href="http://fsfe.org/news/2011/news-20110525-01.html">FSFE in Samba case: Microsoft's defiance backfired</a> - FSFE PR about the hearing</li>

  97.   <li>2008-02-28 [NEWS] <a href="/news/2008/news-20080228-01.html">FSFE calls on Microsoft to release interoperability information without restrictions</a></li>

  98.   <li>2007-12-20 [NEWS] "<a href="/news/2007/news-20071220-01.html">EU antitrust case over: Samba receives interoperability information</a>"</li>

  99.   <li>2007-09-17 [INTERVIEW] <a href="http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070919214307459">Interview with Georg Greve of FSFE, Jeremy Allison and Volker Lendecke of Samba, and FSFE's lawyer Carlo Piana (audio and transcript)</a></li>

  100.   <li>2007-09-17 [NEWS] FSFE: "<a href="http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2007q3/000186.html">FSFE, Samba: A triumph for freedom of choice and competition.</a>"</li>

  101.   <li>2006-04-28 [INTERVIEW] <a href="http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=2006042816483566">Georg Greve talks about the recent hearings (audio and transcript)</a></li>

  102.   <li>2006-04-27 [NEWS] Microsoft: "<a href="http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2006q2/000138.html">Our software patents preclude interoperability</a>"</li>

  103.   <li>2006-04-21 [NEWS] FSFE: "<a href="http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2006q2/000136.html">Microsoft locks in customers and pushes software patents to prevent competition.</a>"</li>

  104.   <li>2006-04-21 [ARTICLE] <a href="article-20060421.html">Software Patents

  105.       Could Reduce The Microsoft Antitrust Suit To Absurdity</a></li>

  106.   <li>2006-03-31 [INTERVIEW] <a href="http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20060401001402147">Carlo Piana talks about the case (audio and transcript)</a></li>

  107.   <li>2006-03-07 [DOCUMENT] <a href="non_paper.pdf">Letter from FSFE's lawyer Carlo Piana (PDF)</a></li>

  108.   <li>2006-03-07 [DOCUMENT] <a href="fsfe_art18_reply_published_sourcecode.pdf">FSFE/Samba Team response to Art. 18 Letter (PDF)</a></li>

  109.   <li>2006-03-07 [DOCUMENT] <a href="fsfe_art18_reply-source_code_reference_license.pdf">FSFE/Samba Team response to Art. 18 Letter on "source code" (PDF)</a></li>

  110.   <li>2006-02-16 [NEWS] "<a href="http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2006q1/000129.html">FSFE to Microsoft: stop complaining, and start complying!</a>"</li>

  111.   <li>2006-01-26 [NEWS] "<a href="http://mailman.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2006q1/000126.html">FSFE: &quot;Microsoft offers poisoned apple&quot; - &quot;

  112. Praises premature in hindsight&quot;</a>"</li>

  113.   <li>2005-11-23 [NEWS] "<a href="http://mailman.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2005q4/000122.html">FSFE files application for leave to intervene in antitrust suit against Microsoft</a>"</li>

  114.   <li>2005-10-14 [NEWS] "<a href="http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2005q4/000118.html">Real Networks - Microsoft: &quot;FSFE is not and never will be for sale&quot;</a>"</li>

  115.   <li>2005-06-07 [NEWS] "<a href="http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2005q2/000105.html">FSFE: &quot;Microsoft abuses the good will of Ms. Kroes&quot; - &quot;European Commission is about to enter legal house-to-house fighting!&quot;</a>"</li>

  116.   <li>2005-04-01 [NEWS] "<a href="http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2005q2/000098.html">How to make Microsoft respect European Authorities - FSFE recommends permanent monitoring</a>"</li>

  117.   <li>2005-03-21 [NEWS] "<a href="http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2005q1/000097.html">FSFE to help bring Microsoft to its feet</a>"</li>

  118.   <li>2004-11-24 [NEWS] "<a href="http://mailman.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2004q4/000083.html">Freedom is priceless, but has a cost!</a>"</li>

  119.   <li>2004-11-09 [NEWS] "<a href="http://mailman.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2004q4/000081.html">For the FSFE, the battle continues</a>"</li>

  120.   <li>2004-10-01 [NEWS] "<a href="http://mailman.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2004q4/000075.html">First hearing in the Microsoft Vs EC antitrust case</a>"</li>

  121.   <li>2004-09-30 [DOCUMENT] <a href="intervention-20040930.html">Intervention to the Court of the European Union on behalf of the Free Software Foundation Europe</a></li>

  122.   <li>2004-09-29 [NEWS] "<a href="http://mailman.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2004q3/000074.html">FSFE not inclined to pay legal costs of Microsoft</a>"</li>

  123.   <li>2004-07-27 [NEWS] "<a href="http://mailman.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2004q3/000067.html">FSFE to challenge Microsoft in its appeal against European Commission</a>"</li>

  124. </ul>

  125. 

  126.   </body>

  127. 

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