Microsoft in Compliance With 2004 Ruling, E.U. Says

IDG News Service (Brussels Bureau) — Microsoft has made substantial concessions to the European Commission, finally bringing the company into compliance with a 2004 antitrust ruling, the Commission said Monday.

"Microsoft has finally agreed to three substantial changes to bring them into compliance with the decision," the Commission said in a statement.

Following the 2004 ruling, Microsoft paid a fine of €497 million (around $600 million) and published a version of its Windows XP operating system without a bundled media player. The Commission also ordered a third remedy, that Microsoft publish details of the communications protocols used by its server operating system products to communicate with one another and with its desktop clients.

The Commission was initially unhappy with Microsoft's response to the third remedy, fining it an additional €280.5 million last year, but has now reached agreement with the company. One of the sticking points was how open source software developers could make use of the communications protocol information Microsoft published.

The first change the company has agreed to is that open source software developers will be able to access and use the interoperability information, as required in the 2004 ruling.

Second, the royalties payable for this information will be reduced to a nominal one-off payment of €10,000 and third, the royalties for a worldwide license, including patents, will be sharply reduced, the Commission said.

Additionally, Microsoft announced it has decided not to appeal last month's appeal ruling against it from the Court of First Instance (CFI) as it has agreed to comply with the European Commission's 2004 antitrust ruling that sparked the company's appeal.

The decision to accept the CFI's ruling will dispel any lingering uncertainty facing software and hardware developers over how to plan future product development.

"We will not appeal the CFI's decision to the European Court of Justice and will continue to work closely with the Commission and the industry to ensure a flourishing and competitive environment for information technology in Europe and around the world," the company said in a statement Monday.

Last month the Luxembourg-based CFI threw out Microsoft's appeal, siding with the Commission on the two essential elements in the antitrust case: Microsoft's failure to share necessary interoperability information about its Windows operating system with rivals and its strategy of tying its media player to Windows to the detriment of rival players.

The Commission declined to comment officially on Microsoft's decision not to appeal.