"The companies said Monday that the European Commission, the European Union's executive arm, issued a statement of objections regarding the deal, which they said focuses on whether Oracle's takeover of Sun's MySQL database software would reduce competition in the database market.
"The move doesn't necessarily mean the EU will reject the deal, but it is expected to delay the transaction since regulators have concluded there is a competitive problem.
"The U.S. Justice Department previously approved Oracle's purchase of Sun, and it reiterated Monday that it had concluded that Oracle's ownership of MySQL wouldn't harm competition.
"Oracle, which has an opportunity to respond to the European Commission's objections, said the EU's move "reveals a profound misunderstanding of both database competition" and the dynamics of so-called open-source software, whose programming instructions can be viewed and modified by users. MySQL is a prominent example of such software."
