Microsoft asks EU to go easy

Software behemoth Microsoft has asked the European Union antitrust investigation into its business practices to accept the settlement it has negotiated with the Bush administration.

According to Associated Press reports, the company's filing with the investigation says that any issues European users may have with Microsoft will be covered in the settlement it agreed with the US Department of Justice.

Microsoft argues in the filing that the limited access to its server software the proposals agreed by the DOJ grant to its rivals is sufficient to safeguard competition, and any further access would enable rival software makers to copy its products with the minimum of outlay.

The news comes as the first of the nine states still bent on taking Microsoft to court for antitrust practices, West Virginia, is starting to compile its case against the company.

West Virginia's suit is based on the original ruling by Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who originally presided over Microsoft's court battle with the Department of Justice.

Jackson's penalties were overruled, although his verdict was upheld.