EU judge to rule on Microsoft curbs

A European Union judge is due to decide this week if antitrust sanctions imposed on Microsoft should be suspended -- a move the software giant hopes would lead to new settlement talks.

The European Commission decided in March that Microsoft used its Windows near-monopoly in the computer operating systems market to hurt competitors, and ordered it make information available to rivals and sell a version of Windows without audio-visual software so that other software suppliers were not pre-empted.

The Commission, the EU's executive, also levied a record 497 million euro ($665 million) fine.

But Bo Vesterdorf, president of the EU's Court of First Instance, is to decide whether Microsoft must comply now or wait years until a panel of judges hears its full appeal.

For now, what was supposed to be an early skirmish has turned into a full-blown six-month battle complete with two days of hearings before the court in Luxembourg.

Vesterdorf's order itself, although not a formal decision, is expected to run to a weighty 100 to 200 pages and delve into the substance of the case.