Cisco to challenge Microsoft's purchase of Skype in Europe

[nsane.forums]

On Wednesday, Cisco will attempt to convince an appeals court for the European Union to reverse the approval of Microsoft's acquisition of Skype in 2011 by the European Commission.

In October 2011, the European Commission approved the $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype by Microsoft, just a few days before the deal from Microsoft to buy the VoIP company officially closed. At a court cast this week, however, Cisco will make the case that the Commission made a number of "manifest errors" in allowing the Microsoft-Skype deal to go forward.

Reuters reports that Cisco will take its case to the General Court of the European Union on Wednesday. The company announced in February 2012 that it would appeal the Commission's ruling, but it's unlikely that the general court will overturn the Commission's decision.

Cisco has been critical of Skype in the past for using what it calls proprietary standards for its service. In a November press release, Cisco said those standards hinder "Skype's more than 600 million users from calling non-Skype users, and prevents businesses from reaching them via systems that offer services such as healthcare and job training by remote video."

Should the general court not reverse the Commission's decision, Cisco has one more option left: It can take the case to the EU's Court of Justice, its highest court.

View: Original Article

[LiLmEgZ]

I wish em the best of luck... wish they would do that in the USA (cause Skype is terrible!)... but it wont happen in USA

[DKT27]

Cisco tells EU: Microsoft-Skype merger is a monopoly

Cisco has its day in court; says the merger should include interoperability rules.

Last year, Cisco took its case against the Microsoft-Skype merger to court in Europe. While it didn't oppose the merger, the networking giant wanted EU regulators to impose rules about "standards-based interoperability." In a blog post, Cisco VP Marthin De Beer said the very future of video communications was at risk.

Today, more than a year later, Cisco got its day in court. It argued to the EU General Court that the $8.5 billion deal should never have been approved by regulators, according to a Reuters account of the proceedings in Luxembourg. The acquisition "marked a tipping point in the video communications market," Cisco's lawyer told judges. "The merger created an effective monopoly and condemned competitors to a niche. The reasoning applied (by the commission) incurred numerous errors."

A lawyer representing the commission that approved the deal countered that Cisco hadn't shown any evidence of harm. "Other technologies are emerging," he said. "If these succeed, it may render Skype a relic." The commission's lawyer noted that services like Google Talk and Viber are providing effective competition.

The challenge at the EU's second highest court is a long shot by any measure. The EU court usually stands by regulators' decisions and has not overturned a merger approval since 2002.

Video-to-video calls need to be "as easy and seamless as e-mail is today," wrote Cisco's De Beer last year. Without interoperability rules being forced on Microsoft, he suggested that future is in danger.

Cisco is joined in its appeal by Messagenet, a European VoIP provider.

View: Original Article