The top judge of the European Union's second-highest court has proposed changing judges in the Microsoft antitrust case, according to a letter sent to all parties in the case, Reuters reported today. Parties involved in the case received a one-paragraph letter Friday from the court's registrar telling them of the change and several shared the letter with Reuters on Sunday. The proposal by Court of First Instance President Bo Vesterdorf still needs approval of other members of the 25-judge court to move the case from the Second Chamber of the court to its Grand Chamber, which is considered highly likely. Vesterdorf's proposal follows a storm of internal court criticism directed at the president of the Second Chamber, Judge Hubert Legal, according to sources familiar with the Court of First Instance. The European Commission found in March 2004, that the software giant used its dominance to compete unfairly, fine it $608.8 million (497 million euros) and ordered that it change its business practices. Microsoft appealed that decision to the European Union courts. --SP 2317 Local Time 2017 GMT
