Microsoft withdraws request for June hearing

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM: U.S. software company Microsoft has withdrawn its request for an oral hearing into EU charges that it sought to thwart rivals by tying its Web browser to its Windows operating system, EU regulators said on Thursday.

"We will now consider Microsoft's reply to the statement of objections without a hearing," European Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said.

The Commission, tasked with ensuring that companies do not abuse their market dominance in the 27-country European Union, had set out its charges, the so-called "statement of objections", against Microsoft on Jan. 15.

The European Union executive had earlier this month set an oral hearing for June 3 to 5 in response to the company's request.

Microsoft said it had subsequently asked for the hearing to be rescheduled to another date because the date set by the Commission coincided with an International Competition Network meeting in Zurich at the same time.

"We believe that holding the hearing at a time when key officials are out of the country would deny Microsoft our effective right to be heard and hence deny our "rights of defense" under European law," Dave Heiner, Microsoft's vice president, wrote on the company's blog.

After the Commission's hearing officer turned down Microsoft's request for another date, the company "reluctantly notified the Commission that we will not proceed with a hearing on June 3-5", he said.

By bundling its Internet Explorer with Windows, Microsoft shielded its Internet Explorer browser from head-to-head competition with rival products, harming innovation and reducing customer choice, the Commission had said in its charge sheet.

Internet Explorer's global market share in February was 67.4 per cent, with the Mozilla foundation's Firefox browser a distant second at about 22 per cent, according to market research firm Net Applications.

Microsoft has said the Commission may order it and computer makers to require users to choose a particular browser when buying a computer or that multiple browsers be made available on new Windows-based computers. It could also get a hefty fine.

Microsoft was fined 899 million euros ($1.2 billion) in February on charges it used high prices to thwart rivals and for not complying with a previous antitrust decision by the Commission.