Bonum Certa Men Certa

Amid Decision on €899,000,000 Fine, ITSSD Goes Batting for Microsoft

[Note: written this morning (i.e. before the hearing)]

Lawrence Kogan



Summary: The lawyers/lobbyingmeisters come out in defence of Microsoft almost unsurprisingly, coinciding of course with a very important hearing about Microsoft's abuses

THE FSFE says that it will speak to the European Court of Justice regarding Microsoft. From their new page:

Fresh action in the European Commission's antitrust proceedings against Microsoft: On May 24, the European Court of Justice conducts a hearing on Microsoft's appeal against the fine. FSFE has participated in the case for a decade and will intervene on the Commission's behalf.


Carlo Piana will be there too and he announces this in Identi.ca/Twitter while "Microsoft tries to weasel out of big EU fine," as one reader of ours put it. "This would be in connection with Microsoft's action claiming that the 899 million euro fine the EU Commission ordered in 2008 was excessive," explains Groklaw. "The Commission found that, prior to October of 2007 Microsoft charged unreasonable prices for access to indispensable interoperability information." Here is what Piana wrote:

Ready to fly to Luxembourg. #FSFE and #samba in court for setting the record straight on #interoperability.


There is some funny stuff going on right now. The "interoperability" propaganda (with patents and RAND, not free standards) gets pushed by some mysterious groups and lobbyists whom we never saw before. "Glyn Moody questions a curious Guardian article about standards and discovers an insulting Microsoft think tank," claims a reader of ours, pointing at this article. We are not sure if it's Microsoft behind the spin, but it is rather predictable that Microsoft at least played a role (Microsoft is generally funding think tanks to lie). As Moody shows, the messenger has a very dodgy reputation. He writes: "Let's see what else concerns the ITSSD. How about this?"

U.S. Navy Had a Whale of a Job Fending Off Green Lawfare in NRDC v. Winter Case

In a newly released Washington Legal Foundation working paper, international lawyer Lawrence Kogan describes the U.S. Navy's challenge in convincing the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate a green injunction effectively preventing critical U.S. Naval sonar training exercises from taking place off the Southern California coast. The injunction had been issued on the grounds that the Navy's failure to prepare a full environmental impact statement could trigger possible but scientifically unverifiable discomfort to beaked whales.

"The green group and California State pleadings the Supreme Court reviewed in Winter provide a bird's eye view of continuing activist efforts to rewrite U.S. environmental regulatory law from the bench in pacifist Europe's socialist image," emphasizes Kogan."

You see, it's getting worse: those “pacifist” “socialist” Europeans are trying to protect the whales from pain - whatever next?

Well, how about this [.pdf]?

Congress Should Do its ‘Homework’ Before Adopting Costly Euro-Style Energy/Climate Change Rules

Crafted by unelected bureaucrats, environmental activists and socialist party ‘kingpins’ and supported by most European leaders, such policies have focused more on promoting sustainable development via consumer and business sacrifices than on securing desperately-needed regional energy supplies.

Yes, it's those crafty socialist party ‘kingpins’ again - probably all cheese-eating surrender monkeys - aided and abetted by environmental activists, who have the audacity to promote “sustainable development via consumer and business sacrifices”: can you imagine it?

Yes, I think lots of caution is required here....


Did Microsoft liaise with ITSSD? Here it is lobbying for Microsoft interests at WIPO [PDF]. They even have a blogspot blog, just like Microsoft Florian.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

EPO Strike Begins Today and It's the Longest One Yet (Can Last a Year)
Where's the media?
People Discuss Rumours of Mass Layoffs at IBM Becoming Public in 1-2 Weeks
IBM is killing its brand or its "goodwill"
The Old Days
In the early days of this site (2006) it was mostly just a couple of people, plus comments
 
More Media Needs to Tell the Public Slop is a Giant Bubble, It Should Stop Taking "Sponsorship" Money to Inflate This Bubble
If enough of (what's left of) the media changes its tune and quits being a parrot of GAFAM, then we can debate slop like grown-ups
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 29, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, March 29, 2026
Trying to Hide One's Abuses by Imposing Silence on Critics ("My Profile Was Private")
With enough daylight, sooner or later everyone knows you are a vampire
Fedora Badges System Shows the Demise of Fedora Under IBM
IBM isn't good at keeping what it buys
IBM is Sunsetting Red Hat, It Only Uses the Brand and the Shell
IBM buys or spins off companies as containers for "toxic assets" and debt
Cisco Systems is a Still Weak Spot With Bug Doors
nothing to offer except storytelling
Gemini Links 30/03/2026: Approaching April and Arvelie Calendar
Links for the day
No Daylight Saved
Is there still any practical reason for this ritual?
Microsoft Azure Does Not Have "Hiring Freezes", It Has Had Mass Layoffs Every Year Since 2020
Things are always a lot worse than Microsoft formally or publicly acknowledges
SLAPP Censorship - Part 27 Out of 200: Using the Tor Network to Hide From Consequences
Only 1-2 weeks after the countersuit the Canadian attempted to deplatform several Web sites
The Limits of Inclusion
Inclusion with caution isn't "opinionated"; it's a defence mechanism, sometimes a survival instinct
Almost 20 Years After Microsoft/Novell
The mission has not changed, but the priorities evolve all the time
LLM Slop Kills Sites, as Sites That Adopt Slop Are Doomed
People won't subscribe to such sites and visit them if they recognise it's just slop
Links 29/03/2026: Indonesia Cracks Down on Social Control Media Addiction, China Becomes World’s Scientific Superpower
Links for the day
Fedora at the Mercy of Microsoft Because of Back-Doored Kick-Switch Boot
We'll soon revisit the defamation attacks on Torvalds
Links 29/03/2026: Water Shortages and No Kings Rallies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 29/03/2026: Return to Gopherspace, "Zen of Marking Playing Cards"
Links for the day
The Real XBox is Dead, So Microsoft is Calling Everything "XBox" Now
It even wanted to run a campaign to convince everybody that XBox is not actually a console
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 28, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, March 28, 2026
Open Web Destroyed by Centibillionaires, Says Anil Dash of Blogging Fame
Blogging was going through its 'prime years' about 20 years ago
"Linux" Slop Going Away, Microsoft et al Pay 'Linux' Foundation to Promote Slop
It's a timely reminder that the Linux Foundation exists to promote whoever pays the Linux Foundation, even pedophiles and companies that attack the GPL
Links 28/03/2026: Microsoft's LinkedIn a National Security Risk, Microsoft's Slop "Ambitions Face Investor Scrutiny Amid Soaring Costs"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/03/2026: "Finding My Base Tone", "Astrobotany", and BugoutBack/OFFLFIRSOCH
Links for the day
Links 28/03/2026: More Worldwide Bans on Social Control Media (Harms to Adolescents), Protests in US Against Dictatorship
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 26 Out of 200: Asking for Documents and Information You Already Have, Even Letters and E-mails That You Yourself Sent!
barristers are expensive
Gemini Links 28/03/2026: Echo Delay and 0x0.st
Links for the day
Rumours of More IBM Mass Layoffs at Beginning of April
IBM is not doing well
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, March 27, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, March 27, 2026