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Interoperability: Intellectual Property Vs. Anti-Trust, Kevin W. Reckamp

Kevin W Reckamp

In the past few years, the European Union and the United States have taken differing paths in the name of consumer welfare. The European courts recently struck Microsoft with the largest fine ever for violating the EU competition laws, because Microsoft had refused to release proprietary codes to rival companies that would allow the rivals to make their products “interoperable” with Microsoft’s dominate system. The Microsoft decision is the latest in a line of cases that goes down a path of stripping intellectual property rights from an individual or company that becomes too successful. The United States has been much …