Press Release: Antitrust: Commission ensures compliance with 2004 Decision against Microsoft

The European Commission has ensured that Microsoft will now take the necessary steps to comply with its obligations under the Commission’s 2004 Decision regarding work group server operating systems, including the making available to ‘open source’ software developers of the interoperability information that Microsoft is obliged to disclose. Microsoft has finally agreed to three substantial changes to bring them into compliance with the decision. First, ‘open source’ software developers will be able to access and use the interoperability information. Second, the royalties payable for this information will be reduced to a nominal one-off payment of €10,000. Third, the royalties for a worldwide licence including patents will be reduced from 5.95% to 0.4% - less than 7% of the royalty originally claimed. In these agreements between third party developers and Microsoft, Microsoft will guarantee the completeness and accuracy of the information provided. The agreements will be enforceable before the High Court in London, and will provide for effective remedies, including damages, for third party developers in the event that Microsoft breaches those agreements. Effective private enforcement will therefore complement the Commission's public enforcement powers. These changes mean that open source competitors to Microsoft will be able to provide businesses with competitive, innovative alternatives to Microsoft work group server products, knowing that they are fully interoperable with Microsoft's Windows desktop operating system. The Commission will now adopt a decision as soon as possible on the pending non-compliance case regarding past unreasonable pricing for the interoperability information, on which the Commission sent a Statement of Objections on 1 March 2007 (see IP/07/269). Microsoft also has ongoing obligations to continue to comply with the Commission's 2004 Decision: should Microsoft fail to comply with those obligations in the future the Commission can issue a new decision to impose daily penalties.

European Commission: MEMO/07/420: Antitrust: Commission ensures Microsoft’s compliance with the 2004 Decision - frequently asked questions http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/07/420&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

European Commission: SPEECH/07/647: Introductory remarks on Microsoft's compliance with March 2004 antitrust decision http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/07/647&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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