Microsoft settles EU lawsuit
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Oct 22, 2007 at 12:28pm
Microsoft agreed to obey key parts of a 2004 antitrust ruling upheld by an appeals court last month, EU regulators said Monday, cutting royalties for rivals and handing information over to open source developers (as reported by CNN Money.
EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes reached the deal in a phone call with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in the early hours of the morning, she said, adding that she hoped this “dark chapter” was over. If the software maker doesn’t abide by the terms of the deal, competitors will be able to take the company to a British court to seek damages.
Microsoft has agreed to three substantial changes, according to the European Commission. The company will now charge a one-time fee of $14,310 (€10,000) for companies that want “complete and accurate” technical information to help them make software compatible with Microsoft’s Windows desktop operating system. It will also allow that data to go to open source companies such as Linux. And it will cut the price it charges for worldwide licenses, including patents, to less than seven percent of what Microsoft originally claimed.
Submissions are being taken for the “Macsimum Macworld San Francisco 2008 Coupon Book.” For details email Dennis at daseller@earthlink.net
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
