By Xinhua
Brussels : The US software giant Microsoft has agreed to fully comply with an anti-trust decision by the European Union (EU) in 2004, the European Commission announced Monday.
“I want to report to you today that Microsoft has finally agreed to comply with its obligations under the 2004 commission decision,” EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes told reporters.
Microsoft will now take the necessary steps to comply with its obligations under the commission’s 2004 decision regarding work group server operating systems and make available to “open source” software developers the interoperability information, the commission said in a statement.
The interoperability information will allow software developers to make their programs work smoothly with Microsoft’s Windows operating system.
The commission also fined Microsoft a record 497 million euros ($686 million) for the company’s abuses of market power.
Microsoft’s concession came after the European Court of First Instance, the EU’s second-highest court, upheld the commission’s decision last month, a heavy blow to the software giant’s long-time defiance.
Earlier this year, the commission warned Microsoft of further penalties of up to three million euros ($4.2 million) per day over its unreasonable pricing of the interoperability information.
The commission said Microsoft finally agreed to comply with three substantial changes.
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 euros ($14,200 dollars).
Third, the royalties for a worldwide license including patents will be reduced from 5.95 percent to 0.4 percent – less than seven percent of the royalties originally claimed.
“As of today, the major issues concerning compliance have been resolved,” Kroes said adding that the commission will remain vigilant to ensure Microsoft complies with its obligations.