Blackmail or Business?

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050215-110442-3672r.htm

In essence, Microsoft wants to see a directive accepted in Denmark that protects intellectual property rights. Microsoft has threatened to pull an 800-person division, Navision, from Denmark if that doesn't happen. Lobbyists opposed to the directive are calling it blackmail. I call it basic business principle.

Like my earlier post about McDonald's finding alternatives to paying higher minimum wages by using a technological alternative, some people just don't see that governments hostile to businesses drive those businesses elsewhere, often to the detriment of the very people the government is supposed to serve.

I also don't doubt that the lobbyists involved in opposing the directive wish they had some leverage to counter Microsoft's threat, such as "Company X will bring a new division to Denmark if we reject this directive." If they did, they'd be using it rather than trying to cry foul and spin a practical business choice as a crime.

Update:
Statement from Microsoft

Microsoft has announced that the original story is factually false, in that no such conversation ever took place. However, my point about such a move, if it were made, being simply business for the right reasons, not a crime, still stands.