EU court to rule on Microsoft antitrust appeal in September News
EU court to rule on Microsoft antitrust appeal in September

[JURIST] The European Court of First Instance [official website] announced Tuesday that it will deliver a judgment [press release, PDF] September 17 in Microsoft's appeal [JURIST report] against the European Commission's (EC) 2004 landmark anti-trust ruling [JURIST report] that hit Microsoft [corporate website; JURIST news archive] with a record €497.2 million euro (approximately $686 million) fine. Microsoft, which is seeking the "annulment of the decision or a substantial reduction in the fine imposed on it," has been accused by the EC of steadily increasing its market share [JURIST report] in the workgroup server market through abusive business practices; the company has been threatened with additional fines [JURIST report]. Both the European Commission and Microsoft can appeal the judgment to the European Court of Justice [official website; JURIST news archive].

Last July, EC antitrust regulators imposed a €2 million euro per day (approximately $2.75 million) fine [JURIST report] on Microsoft for continuing noncompliance with its 2004 order, which required Microsoft to share information necessary for compatibility with competitors and offer a reduced version of the Windows XP operating system without Windows Media Player. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

White supremacists overthrow government in Wilmington, North Carolina

A group of white supremacists overthrew the government of Wilmington, North Carolina on November 10, 1898, killing at least dozens of Black people in the process. The city's Republican government resigned after the 500-2,000 strong white mob burned the offices of a Black-owned newspaper and terrorized black neighborhoods. The new state Democratic government passed laws in 1899 disenfranchising Black voters across North Carolina. Learn more about the 1898 Wilmington Coup.

Supreme Court limited free speech in wartime

On November 10, 1919, the US Supreme Court ruled in Abrams v. United States that the federal government could criminalize speech if it was of a type tending to bring about harmful results, in this case, resistance to the United States war effort. In a powerful dissenting opinion, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes countered that even during wartime, free speech could only be curtailed when there was clear and "present danger of immediate evil or an intent to bring it about."

Leonid Brezhnev dies

On November 10, 1982, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev died of a heart attack. He had served as leader of the USSR from October 1964 until his death. Following his death, the Soviet Union cycled through three more leaders during the 1980s until Mikhail Gorbachev allowed the country to dissolve in 1991. Read an obituary of Leonid Brezhnev from the New York Times.