Paul Meller

The European Commission has paused its probe of Oracle Corp.'s hostile, multibillion bid to buy rival PeopleSoft Inc., in order to gather more information about the notified takeover.

Europe's largest telecommunications companies, the cable industry and several well known American Internet firms have joined forces in an effort to change a controversial proposal for a European Union law to combat counterfeiting and piracy of articles such as computer software, online music and movies. The draft law will be debated by a European Parliament committee Thursday.

The European Commission gave an upbeat assessment of the electronic communications market Thursday, but it warned seven Union member states that their failure to enact a new legal regime called the telecom package is hampering the development of high-speed broadband services.

European telecommunications and communications ministers gave final approval to the creation of a European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) Thursday.

Europe's 40 largest fixed line telecommunications operators have warned that a proposed law on intellectual property enforcement dubbed the anti-piracy directive, will hamper the rollout of broadband services if worded too broadly.

A small but important fact was established last week during a hearing in Microsoft Corp.'s long-running antitrust case in the European Union that could form the basis of a settlement, according to some people following the case.

Talk of a settlement in Microsoft Corp.'s long-running European antitrust case surfaced Thursday, but many opponents of the software giant remained unconvinced.

Microsoft Corp. defended its business practices Wednesday during a three-day hearing in Brussels in front of European competition regulators, in a final attempt to persuade them that it isn't breaking the European Union's antitrust laws.