Judge may go after angering court

THE judge hearing an anti-trust lawsuit brought by software giant Microsoft against the European Commission may be changed after he published a controversial article on the case, according to a leaked proposal by Court of First Instance president Bo Vesterdorf.

Vesterdorf, head of the EU's second-highest court, suggests transferring the case from the current judge and panel to a larger panel which he himself would head. He made the proposal in a letter that was leaked over the weekend.

The EC found in March last year that Microsoft used its dominance to compete unfairly. It fined the company €497m (£332.8m) and ordered it to change its business practices. But Microsoft is fighting back through the courts and the case is being heard by a five-judge panel headed by Judge Hubert Legal.

But Judge Legal stoked controversy by publishing an article in French journal Concurrences (Competition), saying that some of the judges' clerks tended to regard themselves as 'ayatollahs of free enterprise' and should avoid an impression of 'arbitrary power'.

These young 'ayatollahs' can gain a central role when they speak the language of deliberations - the working language of the court is French - better than the judges, the article said, angering judges and clerks at the court.

The 25-judge court will now meet to vote on Vesterdorf 's proposals, which envisage a move of the matter to the court's Grand Chamber, headed by Vesterdorf-Under the plan, the new Grand Chamber panel would include the existing five-member panel, heads of other chambers and four senior judges.