A History of Anti-trust Problems:
Microsoft Settlements to Resolve Anti-trust Disputes 2003 - 2007
Company with
whom agreement
reached
AOL Time Warner
Be Incorporated
Nature of Agreement
Agreement to settle the pending litigation
between their companies.
Mediated settlement of an antitrust lawsuit filed
by Be Inc. in February 2002. Be received a
payment from Microsoft, after attorneys fees, in
the amount of $23,250,000 (U.S.) to end further
litigation.
Sun Microsystems
Entered into a broad technology collaboration
arrangement and to settle all pending litigation
between the two companies.
Date
Amount US$
May-03
750 million
September-03
23 million
April-04
700 million
Notes
US$ 700 million = to
resolve pending antitrust
issues. Further US$ 900
million = to resolve patent
issues. Royalties up-front
payment by MSFT of US$
350 million
Novell
Computer and
Communications
Industry Association
(CCIA)
Daum
Opera Software
Agreement with Novell, Inc. to resolve all
November-04
antitrust claims relating to Novell's NetWare
product and all of the other products and
businesses which it owned. The agreement
resulted from a private mediation between the
two companies.
Agreement that CCIA withdraw from all further
November-04
participation in the European Union litigation,
both the interim measures case and the merits
case. In addition, CCIA withdrew a complaint
pending before the European Commission
regarding Windows XP. CCIA also agreed not to
seek review by the Supreme Court of the U.S.
lawsuit.
Microsoft sealed a 30 million dollar deal with
March-05
South Korean Internet portal Daum
Communications to settle an anti-trust suit. The
deal ended a legal battle with Daum, which had
accused Microsoft of violating anti-trust rules by
unfairly incorporating its MSN instant messaging
software into the Windows system. The
settlement included a cash payment of 10 million
dollars, together with an advertising commitment
valued at 10 million dollars and another 10
million dollars in business terms.
Opera Software ASA settled legal claims
May-04
resulting in payment to Opera of net USD 12.75
million. Details are confidential pursuant to the
settlement agreement.
536 million
19.75 million
30 million
12 million
Gateway
IBM
RealNetworks
Agreement to resolve legal issues between the
two companies and work together on the
marketing and development of Gateway
personal computing products. As part of the
agreement, Microsoft to provide funds that
Gateway expected to use for marketing
initiatives, including advertising, sales training
and consulting, as well as the research,
development and testing of new Gateway
products that can run current Microsoft products
and Microsoft's next-generation operating
system and productivity software.
Agreement to resolve antitrust issues between
the two companies. Microsoft paid IBMamount
stated and extended $75 million in credit towards
deployment of Microsoft software at IBM. the
settlement resolves all antitrust claims, including
claims related to the IBM OS/2 operating system
and SmartSuite products, with the exception of
claims for harm to IBM’s server hardware and
server software businesses.
Three agreements valued at $761 million to
RealNetworks to settle their antitrust case. The
three agreements include an agreement to
resolve all the companies’ antitrust disputes
worldwide; an agreement for a wide-ranging
digital music collaboration between the parties,
including promotional and marketing support of
Real’s leading digital music subscription service,
April-05
115 million
June-05
775 million
October-05
460 million
Rhapsody®, on MSN properties; and an
agreement to offer RealNetworks’ digital games
through MSN Games and Xbox Live Arcade for
Xbox 360.
State of Iowa, U.S.
Total Value of
Settlements
The $179.95 million settlement means
individuals in Iowa who bought certain Microsoft
products separately or preinstalled on computers
between May 18, 1994, and June 30, 2006, will
be eligible for cash. Government agencies and
companies with multiple copies purchased
between July 1, 2002, and June 30, 2006, can
seek vouchers that will enable them to buy
computer equipment and software. The amount
that can be claimed will depend on which
product and how many copies were purchased.
April - 07
179.95 million
3600.7 million
Microsoft has faced 206
class-action lawsuits
across the United States.
The company said 108
were consolidated in a
federal antitrust case and
96 remained in state
courts. Most were
dismissed or settled
before trial. The Iowa
case was one of last
cases against the
Redmond, Wash.-based
software manufacturer to
make it to court. Another
is in Mississippi. A case in
Michigan is on appeal.