A US judge has quashed Microsoft's attempts to obtain documents in its antitrust battle against the European Commission, ruling the software giant was trying to undermine European Union law.
District Court Judge Mark Wolf in Boston rejected Microsoft's attempts to subpoena sensitive information from Novell, which provided information to the European Commission for use in an antitrust case against the Redmond, Washington, firm.
"Enforcing Microsoft's ... subpoena to Novell would circumvent and undermine the law of the European Community concerning how a litigant may obtain third-party documents...", the judge said in a harshly-worded 12-page decision issued on Monday.
The ruling was made available by lawyers in Brussels who oppose Microsoft.
A European Commission hearing officer, Karen Williams, had rejected Microsoft's request for a number of documents, ruling they were confidential. So Microsoft got US courts to issue subpoenas, which were challenged by the target companies.
In March, a US District Court in California quashed a similar attempt by Microsoft to force Sun Microsystems Inc and Oracle Corp to provide documents. A judge in New York is considering a request against IBM.