Microsoft oversight extended

 

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By Reuters

Posted on 17 Apr 2009 at 09:16

Microsoft has agreed with the US Justice Department to extend its antitrust oversight by 18 months, according to court papers.

The oversight was imposed in 2002 and scheduled to end on 12 November, but the extension means it will now run until May 2011.

The Justice Department says the new deadline will give it enough time to assess whether Microsoft has removed all the errors from the technical information it is required to give potential licensees who write programs for Microsoft's Windows.

The 2002 consent decree means Microsoft is required to issue licenses for companies that want to write programs for the Windows operating system. It is also required to provide technical information about Windows to help make the programs work.

Once the oversight ends, Microsoft will be able to charge a small royalty on the patented portions of the documentation, about 0.3% of the products sold.

The extension of US court oversight was not linked to the impending release of Windows 7, court documents reveal. However, the Government needs to "thoroughly review" all the technical documentation for Windows 7 and that will be possible only after Microsoft releases the final system documents on 30 June.

"Even if there were no pending release of Windows 7, (the government) would recommend the same extension to the final judgments," the documents say.

"Microsoft understands that Windows Operating System products released during the pendency of the final judgement must comply with the final judgement and will take all steps necessary to ensure that compliance including providing (the government and states) an adequate opportunity to conduct their compliance review," says a Microsoft spokesperson.