Fergie's Tech Blog

Microsoft settles antitrust claims with IBM

Via Reuters.

Microsoft Corp. settled antitrust claims made by International Business Machines Corp., agreeing to pay IBM $775 million, the companies said on Friday.

The settlement, which resolves discriminatory pricing and overcharge claims, also includes Microsoft extending $75 million in credit toward deployment of Microsoft software at IBM.

There is still an outstanding claim by IBM that Microsoft's market dominance harmed its server hardware and server software business. IBM agreed that it will not assert claims for server monetary damages for two years and will not seek to recover damages on such claims incurred prior to June 30, 2002.

Joe Wilcox provides some additional details over on the Microsoft Monitor Blog:

Microsoft's $775 million IBM settlement, announced today, is yet another move by Microsoft to put its antitrust problems in the past--and to keep them there. IBM joins a growing list of settlees, including AOL and Sun, resolving claims directly related to Microsoft's U.S. antitrust case. In his ruling against Microsoft, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson identified companies injured by Microsoft's anticompetitive behavior, including IBM. The settlement resolves issues related to IBM's OS/2 and Smartsuite products, but not server software. Remember that the European antitrust case against Microsoft focuses on server software, while the U.S. case was about the desktop.

posted by Fergie @ 7/01/2005 07:27:00 AM