Is it possible that some people really can’t help themselves? If so, put those who work in the European Union's antitrust office in that category. They are assaulting property rights again.
Having not been satisfied with the pound of flesh it’s already taken out of Microsoft Corp., the EU threatened on March 18 to impose new fines if the software company doesn't make it easier and cheaper for competitors to ogle the blueprints of its server software.
This naked seizure of Microsoft’s intellectual property follows a $665 million fine that EU antitrust regulators hit the software maker with a year ago, when they ruled that Microsoft shut out its competitors through its dominant position in the server market. The threatened fines are the EU’s response to what it believes is Microsoft’s failure to comply with orders that accompanied the initial fines.
What’s so shocking is not that the regulators will use the power of the state to violate property rights for political and ideological ends. It’s almost expected that regulators and bureaucrats, even elected lawmakers, will abuse their positions of authority. What’s alarming is that few dare call this oppressive act of government by its real name: theft.
If Microsoft doesn’t behave as the regulators see fit, the EU has reserved for itself the power to fine the Redmond, Wash., company an amount up to 5 percent of its daily global sales.
Microsoft has about two weeks from the date of the threat to respond. One of its alternatives could be to simply leave the European market. That would hurt the company financially more than the EU’s fine and would leave a hole in the European market that could not be easily or quickly filled.
But do EU regulators care about the potential for business disruptions when a principle is at stake: the government’s ability to punish companies when they aren’t willing to hand over their intellectual property?
No. Just think what kind of precedent it would set if companies are allowed to keep their property.