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From another list: UNITED STATES v. MICROSOFT CORP. (July 3, 2003)
Joint Status Report On Microsoft's Compliance With The Settlement
Provisions Of The November 1, 2002 Final Judgments, Criticizing
Microsoft's Apparent Lack Of Full Compliance With The Settlement
[PDF]
http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/microsoft/usms70303statrpt.pdf Report raises
concerns about Microsoft settlement
In the first formal status report to the judge overseeing
Microsoft Corp.'s antitrust settlement, the Justice Department and 16 states
said they believe the software giant is charging too much for technical
information that lets its competitors' software work more effectively on the
Windows operating system. The
Justice Department and states, including New York and California, said they may
seek a court order to compel Microsoft to license the technical information in
a "reasonable and non-discriminatory" manner At issue is a key
aspect of the final judgment U.S. District Judge College Kollar-Kotelly issued
in the antitrust case in November. The judgment called for Microsoft to license
pieces of technical information, known as communications protocols, as part of
an effort to keep the company from unfairly leveraging its Windows
operating-system monopoly. The protocols let
programs communicate with Windows running on servers. Their disclosure is meant
to let independent software makers compete more effectively against Microsoft's
programs. But so far, only four
companies have licensed the protocols, according to the report submitted to
Kollar-Kotelly on Thursday. "We believe that
the terms were set at reasonable rates," Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler
said. The company is not required to publicly disclose the rates it charges for
the protocols, since it's proprietary information. The companies that have
licensed the protocols thus far are EMC Corp., Network Appliance Inc., VeriSign
Inc. and Starbak Communications Inc., Microsoft said in its portion of the
status report. Desler attributed the
limited number of deals to "a number of factors, including a challenging
economic climate." "This is a complex
and unprecedented program," Dessler said. "In launching it, we
welcomed industry and government feedback. We've made some changes based upon
that feedback already and are open to making additional adjustments based on
more constructive feedback if it will improve the program." Others argue that the licensing
program won't work unless it's changed substantially. "It's not a surprise that it's not
working," said Norman Hawker, a Western Michigan University business
professor and research fellow at the American Antitrust Institute, which
opposed the antitrust settlement. "The states and the federal government
were warned in voluminous comments on the settlement that these were the kinds
of problems that would result. They're reaping what they sowed." Desler countered that
Thursday's report made it clear that "Microsoft's compliance is being
closely monitored, that the consent decree is being thoroughly enforced and
that there's a high level of cooperation among the parties." Kollar-Kotelly is
scheduled to discuss the progress report in a hearing with both parties July 24
in Washington, D.C. She has asked
for progress reports every six months. http://www.kgw.com/tech/stories/kgw_070403_tech_microsoft_settlement.581e3e72.html |
