China antitrust regulator claims Microsoft sales information not transparent 

Microsoft Corp’s internet browser and media player are being targeted in a Chinese antitrust probe, raising the prospect of China revisiting the software bundling issue at the heart of past antitrust complaints against the firm in the West.

Microsoft has not been fully transparent with information about its Windows and Office sales, but has expressed willingness to cooperate with ongoing investigations, Zhang Mao, the head of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), told reporters at a briefing in Beijing on Tuesday.

Microsoft settled in 2001 with the U.S. Department of Justice a long-running case centering around whether it could bundle its flagship Internet Explorer browser with Windows.

In 2004, the European Union ordered Microsoft to pay a 497 million euro ($656 million) fine and produce a version of Windows without the Windows Media Player bundled. The fine was later increased to nearly 1.4 billion euros.

China’s focus on two products previously litigated elsewhere appears to form the basis of its investigation, but the probe could extend beyond the media player and browser bundling issue, said You Youting, a partner at Shanghai Debund Law Offices.

“It’s possible the government hasn’t been successful in finding what they’re looking for,” You said. “But by starting with these two products, it gives them time.”

A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment when contacted by telephone.

The Microsoft investigation comes amid a spate of antitrust probes against foreign firms in China.

 

Source: NYT

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