Microsoft, EU resume legal battle
Paris: Microsoft Corp. and the European Union will resume their battle as Europe's second highest court begins hearing Microsoft's appeal of European regulators' 2004 antitrust ruling against the company.

Two years ago the European Commission found Microsoft guilty of monopolistic practices and imposed a fine of $612 million on it and ordered it to change its behavior. The commission ordered the software giant to sell a version of its Windows operating system unbundled from its Media Player software and to divulge information on its operating system to makers of rival products.

Microsoft is expected to argue that the trial is about companies' IP rights. Microsoft said before the trial that, "At issue are whether companies can improve their products by developing new features and whether a successful company must hand over its valuable intellectual property to competitors,"
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Oil price rise due to US and its refiners
Even as Opec insisted it would keep pumping oil at current levels and Iran said it had no intention of using oil as a weapon oil prices fell from their record highs by $1.56 to $73.01 in London and $1.47 to $73.70 in New York. Analysts said they had no confidence that it would fall further.

Opec said it was powerless to drive down prices as it was already supplying as much oil as refiners were able to handle. Opec delegates said part of the reason for the recent surge in the market, which has taken the price of a barrel to a record $75.18, was United States foreign policy.

Opec members also blamed the world's major oil companies for a failure to invest in new refining capacity. It said Opec had raised production by 10pc over the past six years, while Saudi Arabia would spend $50bn over the next five years on new fields and refineries. By contrast, the US has not built a new refinery for several decades.

The situation may also assume political overtones in the US, where the price of petrol is soaring just before the American holiday season.
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