MS seeks more time to reply to anti-trust charges

BRUSSELS/ROME: Microsoft Corp is seeking a delay in the deadline to reply to new issues raised against it by the European Commission, a European Union source said.

Microsoft has approached the Commission for delays in its reply to a statement of objections issued in August, the source said.

Microsoft had no comment on the reports of the request for a delay, but earlier in Rome Microsoft European Chief Executive Officer Jean-Philippe Courtois had said the company wanted to take as must time as it could get to put together a reply.

"We expect to reply in the next few weeks or months," he told reporters at a conference in Rome.

"This time frame is not exact...we are going to take as much time as we are allowed to take."

The Commission says that Microsoft may have abused dominance of the Windows operating system through its Media Player, audiovisual software and through its server software.

© Reuters