Microsoft has settled two major monopoly abuse cases
with Novell and the Computer and Communications Industry
Association (CCIA), ending years of legal wrangling.
The company will pay Novell $536m (£289m) under an agreement
that resolves all monopoly abuse claims relating to NetWare. Novell
has agreed to withdraw from participation in the European
Commission’s case against Microsoft.
The agreement came out of private mediation between the two
companies.
The settlement with the CCIA ends an eight-year investigation
and monopoly abuse case brought by the US Department of Justice.
CCIA was the final group challenging a November 2002 settlement
ruling.
"These agreements represent another substantial milestone in
Microsoft resolving the issues that have divided our industry over
the past decade," said Brad Smith, senior vice-president and
general counsel for Microsoft. "The long-standing anti-trust
litigation in the US is now over."
Smith said the payment to Novell brought Microsoft's total bill
for monopoly abuse settlements to just under $3bn. Microsoft
restated its first-quarter results to take account of the
settlement.
The agreement with the CCIA "removes the most substantial
obstacle" to a settlement in the monopoly case currently before the
European Commission, said Smith. "We believe this sends a strong
message that we and other companies in our industry have the
capacity to sit down face to face and resolve the kinds of thorny
anti-trust issues that in the past were left instead to the
government to resolve."
Microsoft and Novell were unable to reach agreement on Novell’s
monopoly abuse claims related to its ownership of WordPerfect
software between June 1994 and March 1996. Novell said it would be
taking legal action to recover unspecified damages.
Grant Gross writes for IDG News Service