BRUSSELS, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Microsoft has requested a hearing to defend itself against charges of monopoly abuse of power before the European Commission.
The hearing before European Union's chief antitrust agency also would give individual governments advising the commission an opportunity to hear the case.
A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment on the hearing, tentatively set for the end of November, the Wall Street Journal reported.
However, one person familiar with the company's thinking told the Journal the hearing provided an opportunity to tie together a complex case that evolved over four years.
Antitrust lawyers said the shift in strategy -- Microsoft refused an oral hearing in 2001 -- could possibly strengthen its case in the event of an appeal.
"It creates another environment for the commission to slip up, to procedurally bungle the hearing, and then make that the basis for an appeal," Dennis Oswell, a Brussels-based European antitrust lawyer, who is not involved in the case, told the Journal.
