DOJ Questions MS Antitrust Compliance

May 9th, 2007

- Plaintiffs in the U.S. government’s
antitrust
case against Microsoft expressed concern Thursday that the
software giant was not fully complying with provisions of its settlement
agreement, threatening to make the core of the decree “prematurely
obsolete.”

In a joint status report on Microsoft’s compliance with the
November 2002
settlement, the U.S. government and various states involved in
the case said they “remain concerned” about the royalty rates and structure the
company proposed for allowing competitors access to its communications
protocols.

Allowing rivals to see some of the inner workings of Microsoft’s Windows
operating system was among the conditions imposed on the software maker as part
of the antitrust suit. Microsoft’s compliance with the provision code could
affect companies such as Sun Microsystems and IBM when it comes to making their
software operate properly with Windows.

Rivals have argued in the past that Microsoft has kept too tight a grip
on its code, effectively squeezing them out of certain markets.

The company had three months from the entry of the final judgement to
implement reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) terms for Microsoft’s
Communications Protocol Licensing Program (MCPP), the plaintiffs said in the
report filed to U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly Thursday. It has so
far failed to do so, they argued.

A delay in implementing RAND terms concerns the plaintiffs because it
was intended by the court to be the ‘”most forward-looking provision’” of the
remedy directed toward restoring competition in the market, the report states.

The plaintiffs also said that without the RAND provision, the core of
the decree “would prove prematurely obsolete.”

While Microsoft has made a handful of changes to its MCPP licensing
program, such as eliminating a requirement that potential licensees sign a
nondisclosure agreement to review the license terms, the plaintiffs said that
“further steps may need to be taken … to account for Microsoft’s delayed
implementation” of the RAND terms.

Representatives for Microsoft in the U.K. could not immediately comment
on the status report Friday.

Entry Filed under: Popular