Microsoft agrees to more DOJ terms
Published: 05 Aug 2002 14:15 BST
Microsoft has agreed to abide by certain provisions of the settlement agreement it reached with the Justice Department, the company said on Monday.
Microsoft said it plans to hold a conference call on Monday morning to issue updates on the settlement process, and to release more details about which aspects of the proposed settlement it will abide by.
"Although the proposed settlement has not been entered by the District Court, Microsoft has agreed to implement certain provisions of the settlement agreement while the court process is pending," the company said in a press release.
In November, Microsoft reached a settlement with the Justice Department and nine of 18 states that had accused the company of antitrust violations. Last month, a federal judge said both sides had complied with laws governing antitrust settlements, a move that was seen bringing the settlement closer to an end.
Nine other states and the District of Columbia, meanwhile, have been continuing with litigation against the software maker in pursuit of stricter sanctions.
Microsoft and the Justice Department have proposed a settlement that would impose relatively mild restrictions on the software maker compared with earlier rulings in the four-year-old case, focusing largely on tweaking Microsoft's competitive behaviour.
Among other provisions, the company promised to refrain from contracts and related activities that compel other companies to do its bidding. The Windows operating system, at the heart of a court ruling that branded Microsoft a monopolist, would emerge largely unchanged, and Windows XP -- once a focal point of further proceedings -- would be free of any significant restrictions.
By contrast, the states that are continuing with litigation want Microsoft to sell an alternative version of Windows, from which middleware such as browsers and media players can be removed; license through auction its widespread Office software for use on competing operating systems; give away for free the source code, or blueprint, to its Internet Explorer Web browser; and carry in Windows for 10 years Sun Microsystems' version of the Java Virtual Machine.
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