UPDATE: EU Opens Antitrust Probe Into Thomson Reuters
(Adds commission and company comments.)
By Peppi Kiviniemi
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BRUSSELS -(Dow Jones)- The European Commission Tuesday opened an antitrust
investigation into news and financial data company Thomson Reuters Corp. (TRI),
saying it is concerned that the company locks in customers of its real-time
market data feed services and prevents competitors from translating its codes
for use elsewhere.
Data feeds are used to distribute real-time market data, feeding software
applications developed by banks and financial institutions. Reuters Instrument
Codes are used to identify securities and their trading locations for real-time
stock price information and other market data, the commission said.
The commission is probing whether Thomson Reuters prevents companies from
translating these codes so they can be used by other data feed suppliers,
thereby preventing potential competitors from entering the market, and leaving
customers with no alternative but to continue working with Thomson Reuters.
"The problem is on the restrictions," that are imposed on the usage of the
codes, said commission competition spokesman Jonathan Todd. The commission had
identified Reuters data feeds to have three competitors, none of which has
similar restrictions, Todd said.
Thomson Reuters provides real-time business news and other financial
information products and competes with Dow Jones Newswires.
Thomson Reuters said in a statement that it had received a questionnaire from
the European Commission Nov. 3 "relating to the use of Reuters Instrument Codes,
" and that it would cooperate fully with the investigation, which is at a
preliminary stage.
The commission said the issue of Reuters' restrictive licensing practices
arose during the merger probe of Thomson Reuters, but it was unable to launch an
antitrust case at that time. Under EU rules, companies can be fined up to 10% of
annual global sales for antitrust violations, but if companies offer to settle
with the commission through appropriate remedies, fines are usually waived.
-By Peppi Kiviniemi, Dow Jones Newswires; +32 (0)2 741 1 483; peppi.kiviniemi@
dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-10-090851ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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