US DOJ lets Microsoft resume collecting protocol royalties
- — 10 December, 2009 07:35
Microsoft may begin collecting royalties again for licensing some protocols because clear technical documentation is now available, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Tuesday.
The change comes after the DOJ issued its latest joint status report regarding its 2002 antitrust settlement with Microsoft.
The settlement required Microsoft to make available technical documentation that would allow other vendors to make products that are interoperable with Microsoft's Windows operating systems.
The program, called the Microsoft Communications Protocol Program (MCPP), allowed vendors to license certain protocols from Microsoft. But Microsoft and the DOJ disagreed over the quality of the documentation, and Microsoft engineers had to rewrite large tracts of it.
The DOJ said the plaintiffs now regard the documentation as "substantially complete" although "a small number of documents require substantial rewriting or reorganization," the DOJ said. Also, test suites for Windows 7 protocols must be written.
So far, 55 companies are licensing patents for communications protocols. Forty-two of those companies would be required to pay royalties. Some protocols are available for free from Microsoft, and the DOJ said documents describing protocols have been downloaded more than 732,000 times.
In another part of the status report, the DOJ said a new "substantive complaint" against Microsoft was received in September. The state plaintiffs and the technical committee "are currently engaged in ongoing discussions with both Microsoft and the complainant." No further information was available.
Comments
Anonymous
Mon 14/12/2009 - 09:36
They has the patents
Simply, Microsoft owns the patents implemented by the protocols. The cost to design them is unimportant: their value sets the royalty. Using patents to control markets is awful, but that's what the patent system is supposed to do. The benefit to society from these patents is .. well, not clear to me.
Anonymous
Sun 13/12/2009 - 10:01
Microsoft should be forced to use relative open standards
What is being licensed and why should anybody have to pay royalties to Microsoft for making their products interoperable? There is probably zero cost in developing these protocols. Microsoft creates new protocols to thwart competition, not to improve their products. The cost is implementing the protocols- not developing them. If any costs really exist here it is in the standards settings part which Microsoft is not taking part. They are a monopoly and so all data relative data to compatibility with Microsoft's products should be made available free of charge. Microsoft should be forced to comply with standards; rather than be allowed to license and collect royalties through means solely intent on thwarting competition.