Brussels, 22/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 22 October the European Commission declared that it was satisfied with the approaches made by Microsoft to comply with the Commission's 2004 decision. Microsoft stated that it did not intend to appeal against the recent finding of the European Court of First Instance (CFI). A few other procedures against the world computer leader are still ongoing.
In a press release Microsoft declared, “We have undertaken a constructive discussion with the Commission and have now agreed on those additional steps…We will not appeal the CFI's decision to the European Court of Justice”.
Competition Commissioner, Neelie Kroes deplored the “considerable delays” in this case but welcomed the fact that the “open source” software developers can now benefit from the Commission “remedies”.
The agreement between the Commission and Microsoft mainly consists of three elements: 1) “open source software” developers will have access to information facilitating interoperability between their products and Microsoft server systems; 2) if the product is developed through this kind of information freely, prices will take the form of a single payment of €10,000; 3) developers seeking to re-sell a product based on this information will have to pay 0.4% to Microsoft as well as a single payment for the re-sale of the patents.
Three elements relating to the Microsoft position. Originally, the enterprise refused to unveil information to open source software developers. Following a Commission examination that is still ongoing into inter-operability, these, “seem as of today substantially complete”. Nevertheless if a developer discovers a shortcoming preventing them from carrying out a project, there is now the possibility, as the injured party, to go to the British High Court, which is in charge of ensuring that Microsoft respects its commitments. Microsoft has until now disputed the possibility of such a procedure for open source software producers distributing freely.
It is therefore up to the Commission to take a decision on the period on the previous period in which Microsoft continued to impose “unreasonable” prices for interoperability information, a practice which was the subject of a statement of objections on 1st March this year. Microsoft will have to ensure that documentation on interoperability is updated and ensure that its future behaviour respects standards established by this Commission decision, which lays down a precedent. (C.D)