Latest Antitrust Deals and Other Legal News

A provision of Microsoft’s settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), requiring the company to offer technical documentation to competitors and partners, has been extended two years, to 2009, but the DoJ declined to pursue Google’s complaint about search in Internet Explorer. In addition, Microsoft settled two more antitrust cases and continued its patent battles.

DoJ Update, Antitrust, and Patents

The following developments in Microsoft’s legal situation have occurred since Mar. 2006:

DoJ report. After a request by the DoJ, Microsoft has agreed to extend the life of the Microsoft Communication Protocol Program (MCPP) until 2009. The MCPP is part of the consent decree that ended the DoJ case in Nov. 2002 and allows companies to license technical protocols that Windows client PCs use to communicate with Windows-based servers. In a May 2006 status report to the judge overseeing the case, the DoJ claimed that some of Microsoft’s documentation has been inadequate and that a “new approach” is needed. Although it agreed to the extension, Microsoft noted that 31 companies have now taken part in the MCPP and have used the protocols in more than a dozen released products. The other provisions of the consent decree, such as the requirement that Microsoft price Windows consistently and equally for the top 20 OEMs, are still set to expire in Nov. 2007.