On the department's behalf, he argued that Gates and his colleagues at Microsoft took advantage of their company's monopoly position in operating system software to disadvantage competitors, unfairly tying its Internet Explorer browser to Windows.

FORBES: Legal Adversary Turned Ally

The French have been among the most reluctant to allow competition against their state-owned monopoly, EDF, even though the company has been taking advantage of liberalisation in other countries to enter their markets.

ECONOMIST: Actions speak louder than words | The