<p>The European Commission welcomes today's judgment by the General Court which dismisses Cisco Systems' appeal of a Commission decision of October 2011 to clear the acquisition of Skype by Microsoft (case T-79/12). The judgement confirms the Commission's assessment of new markets and technologies under the EU Merger Regulation. The Commission's decision to clear the transaction did not put the development of innovative products and services at risk. The Commission will continue to ensure that competition in nascent and fast evolving markets is maintained.</p><p>Today's judgment by the EU General Court (GC) confirms that the Commission was correct in its assessment that the acquisition of Skype by Microsoft would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA).</p><p>In a decision of October 2011 (see IP/11/1164), the Commission found that in the area of consumer communications, Microsoft and Skype's activities mainly overlap for video communications, where Microsoft was active pre-merger through Windows Live Messenger.</p><p>The GC confirmed that the Commission was correct in finding that even on the narrow market for consumer video communications on Windows-based PCs only, Microsoft/Skype's high combined market share of 80 to 90% was not indicative of market power given the particular characteristics of the market in question, which is marked by short innovation cycles and products which are free. Therefore, if Microsoft started to make PCs users pay for such a product, this would only encourage them to switch to other providers that continue offering their services free of charge. Furthermore, in that quickly evolving and fast growing market where strong competitors are present, account should also be taken of the increasing use of mobile phones and tablets, where Microsoft was a relatively small player.</p><p><a href="http://www.balkans.com/open-news.php?uniquenumber=186053">Keep reading...</a></p>