Microsoft is ready to remove media player for EU

BRUSSELS -- Microsoft Corp. will be ready to comply with the European Commission's demands for changes to its Windows operating systems if a European court rejects its request for the measures to be suspended, a spokesman for the company said Monday.

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The European Commission ruled in March that Microsoft should offer a version of Windows without Windows Media Player (WMP) software, grant access to documentation for network server software, and pay a fine of €497 million ($610.4 million) because the company had abused its market dominance.

Microsoft has challenged the Commission's decision in the E.U.'s Court of First Instance, and has asked for the Commission's demands to be suspended pending the outcome of the appeal, which is expected to take between two and five years.

The court will hold hearings on Thursday and Friday this week at which the company, the Commission and more than 10 interested parties will present evidence. The judgment by the court on suspending the measures is expected in around two months' time.

"We will be prepared to comply with the court order whatever it is," said Microsoft's general counsel Brad Smith, speaking at a news conference in Brussels on Monday.

The company had "spent millions" so that it could meet the court's judgment, he added, suggesting that development work has already been done to offer a version of Windows in Europe without the WMP software.

Microsoft has protested in the past that unbundling elements of Windows would be difficult and could even damage its operating system. Smith's remarks represent the first time that Microsoft has appeared willing to make a significant change to Windows in the face of pressure from antitrust regulators.

One legal expert who has followed the case said unbundling WMP would be a victory for consumers and competitors. It would force Microsoft to compete based on the merits of its software, said Thomas Vinje, a partner with the Brussels law firm Clifford Chance LLP.

"For RealNetworks, Apple and other companies ... it would mean that they might have a chance of surviving in this market. Thus, for consumers, such a decision would mean that they might continue in the future to have a choice of media players," said Vinje, who represents Microsoft rivals, including the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), a lobbying group based in Washington, D.C.