Microsoft Corporation v. Commission of the European Communities
Court of First Instance (Grand Chamber)
Case T-201/04 (2007)
The Commission of the European Communities (the Commission) (defendant) found that Microsoft (plaintiff) held a 60 percent market share in work-group server operating systems and had refused to disclose trade-secret protocol information that other companies needed to build software compatible with Microsoft's server systems. Without that information, rival companies could not create competing products for the portion of the market running Microsoft's operating systems. The Commission ordered Microsoft to release the protocol information for use by competitors, and Microsoft sought review, arguing the order amounted to unlawful forced licensing of its intellectual property and trade secrets.
Whether, in exceptional circumstances, a company abuses its dominant position in a product market under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union by refusing to license intellectual property to third parties.