Looking to Europe for antitrust enforcement

With the U.S. Supreme Court consistently ruling against antitrust plaintiffs, and with the Justice Department scaling back its antitrust enforcement efforts, it appears the European Union has taken the lead in regulating trade and competition.  Monday's ruling by the EU's Court of First Instance against Microsoft, including imposition of a $613 million fine, confirms that European law takes a hard line against dominant firms.  That tough stance will have repercussions outside of Europe.  The court's order that Microsoft must, for example, share communications code with its rivals will affect how the company conducts operations throughout the world.