After Microsoft’s sound legal defeat at the hands of the EU’s Court of First Instance on Monday, experts debate the future impact and role of the European Commission (EC) in world business. The conflict stretches from legal experts in support of the ruling to U.S. government officials such as Thomas Barnett, the Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust in the U.S. Department of Justice, who made a very public statement against the EC’s decision.

For those that haven’t been paying attention, in 2004 the European Commission handed Microsoft a $613 million fine for antitrust violations, particularly in regard to the bundling of Windows Media Player with Microsoft’s Windows Operating System. Microsoft appealed and, three years later, the EC’s decision became final.

M. J. Moltenbrey, a Washington based antitrust lawyer, had this to say:

“It is inevitable that global companies that want to have a consistent policy around the world will adapt to the regime that is the most restrictive as the relevant standard. Companies will worry about the agency that is the most interventionist, and at the moment, it is the European Commission that seems more willing to intervene in markets.”

Other opponents of the decision say that the decision will turn Europe into the “litigation capital of the world” and will create more lawsuits against other major companies such as Intel and Apple. However, European Commission officials claim the only company that will be affected by this ruling is Microsoft.

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