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Microsoft simplifies new settlement licensing terms
Seattle, Aug 02: Microsoft on Friday unveiled changes to the licensing concessions it made last week to comply with its landmark antitrust settlement with the US government, which will make it easier for rivals to create software that works with Windows.
Brad Smith, Microsoft senior vice president and general counsel, said the changes to Microsoft's licensing terms would make it "more appealing to software developers."
Microsoft also said it would cut the royalty it charges in advance to $50,000 from $100,000 and adopt a new royalty structure that would be based on 1 percent to 5 percent of the licensee's product revenue, depending on the specific product.
As part of the settlement approved last year by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, which ended the government's landmark antitrust case against Microsoft, the company had promised to license its software code on "reasonable and nondiscriminatory" terms.
But rivals have complained that Microsoft's licensing terms were unreasonable, with few signing up for licenses to gain access to Microsoft's software protocols needed to create products that work with Windows.
Bureau Report