Microsoft gives in to the EU

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You might remember that we reported back in September that Microsoft had lost its appeal in the European Union but hadn’t yet given up the ghost. The DailyTech is covering today’s announcement that MS called uncle.

First, a refresher:

In July 2006, Microsoft was fined €497 million ($710 million USD) for as a result of the 2004 antitrust ruling. The commission then raised the cap on Microsoft’s daily fines from $2.6 million USD to $3.8 million USD in July 2006. Two days later, Microsoft was fined an additional $375.4 million USD in July 2006 for failing to comply with the ruling. Microsoft lost its appeal on September 17, 2007 and the initial €497 million fine was upheld.

Now on to today’s news

“I welcome that Microsoft has finally undertaken concrete steps to ensure full compliance with the 2004 decision,” said Kroes. “It is regrettable that Microsoft has only complied after a considerable delay, two court decisions, and the imposition of daily penalty payments.”

According to the agreement, Microsoft will have to make three separate changes to its practices

  1. Software competitors must be given access to Microsoft interoperability information.
  2. Royalties for said information will be a one-time payment of €10,000 ($14,348 USD).
  3. Worldwide software license/patent royalties will be reduced from 5.95 percent to 0.4 percent.

More at the DailyTech.

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  1. […] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptYou might remember that we reported back in September that Microsoft had lost its appeal in the European Union but hadn’t yet given up the ghost. The DailyTech is covering today’s announcement that MS called uncle. First, a refresher: … […]