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Microsoft Abandons Fight to Keep Data From Rivals
Submitted by Newsbyte on Mon, 10/22/2007 - 09:35.
Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp., the world's largest software maker, gave in to European Union demands to make information available for open-source programs such as the Linux operating system after more than three years of legal wrangling. Microsoft and EU regulators said today they had agreed on steps needed to comply with a 2004 EU ruling. Redmond, Washington- based Microsoft also said it wouldn't appeal a Sept. 17 court ruling, which upheld the EU decision. ``These changes in Microsoft's practices will profoundly affect software industries,'' European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes told reporters at a briefing in Brussels today. ``I sincerely hope that we can just close this dark chapter of our relationship.'' Today's agreement is part of Microsoft's efforts to resolve legal disputes with regulators in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The company last week dropped its appeal of an antitrust decision in South Korea. It's also seeking to end five years of U.S. court supervision for illegally protecting its near-monopoly on personal computer software. The company's Windows operating system powers more than 90 percent of the world's PCs. Cut in Royalties The European Commission, the EU's antitrust authority in Brussels, said Microsoft offered to license information to open- source rivals such Linux on how Windows communicates over a network for a one-time payment of 10,000 euros ($14,000). It will also reduce the royalties on related patents to 0.4 percent from 5.95 percent, the commission said. ``The measures that the commission has insisted upon will benefit computer users by bringing competition and innovation back to the server market,'' Kroes said in a statement today. ``I have always said that open source software developers must be able to take advantage of this remedy: now they can.'' Under the 2004 decision, Microsoft had to pay a record 497 million-euro fine, disclose network data to rivals and sell a version of Windows without a built-in video and audio player. Microsoft will continue working closely with the EU regulator and industry to ensure a ``competitive environment for information technology in Europe and around the world,'' the company said in an e-mailed statement. The regulator won't appeal the trustee aspect of the ruling, commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said today. The EU's second- highest court in September said Microsoft shouldn't have to pay the cost of the trustee to monitor its compliance. On March 1 this year, the commission threatened the company with millions of euros in daily fines backdated to December 2005 for charging ``unreasonable'' fees for licensing the protocols. In today's statement, the commission said there is ``no reason to impose further penalties on Microsoft.'' Microsoft has an ``ongoing obligation'' to update the information as its products evolve, the commission said. Failure to do so could result in daily penalties, it said. In July 2006, the EU also imposed a 280.5 million-euro penalty against the software company for failing to license information to rivals. It was the first time that the EU had fined a company for failing to comply with an antitrust order. To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Newman in Brussels at Mnewman6@bloomberg.net . QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION: What does the phrase, "Intellectual Property" mean to you? Do you think Microsoft has a right to "own" what they sell? To what extent? What might Microsoft gain by sharing information more openly with software producers who do not charge for their products? Source: |
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