Microsoft finally gets its way in Europe
The FFII, a not-for-profit organization promoting a free market in information technology, published this press release.
The title is a bit over the top, but what’s the point of writing a press release if it isn’t compelling?
Basically, it’s about a great victory for Microsoft, in Europe: if you write a piece of software that interoperates with a Microsoft product, they have to pay royalties for each copy distributed.
This means that commercial entities such as IBM have to give Microsoft money when they write a competing product -who wants a word processor that cannot read Word documents?. It also means that many open-source projects are going to have to sit down and decide whether to shutter the whole project or stop distributing it in Europe.
One might argue that if royalties are a percentage, free projects shouldn’t have to worry about the whole deal. This would be true if Microsoft’s wording didn’t specify a percentage of their revenue. This is dangerous territory, now. What’s a non-profit to do?
Anyway, as if all of this wasn’t reason to worry enough, this quote from Commissioner Kroes takes the cake:
That percentage royalty has become a nominal, one-off payment of Euro 10,000. This is all that has to be paid by companies that dispute the validity or relevance of Microsoft’s patents.
Yes, you read right: Euro 10,000 (US$14,000). What open-source project is going to fork that kind of money?
And, wait, “this is all that has to be paid”…if you dispute Microsoft’s patents relevance?
Ouch! How much are you supposed to pay if you don’t dispute it?
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October 25, 2007 @ 7:33 pm
[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerpt release if it isn t compelling? Basically, it s about a great victory for Microsoft , in Europe: if you write a piece of software that interoperates with a Microsoft product, they have to pay… Microsoft money when they write a competing product -who wants a word processor that cannot read Word… be true if Microsoft s wording didn t specify a percentage of their revenue . This is dangerous… the validity or relevance of Microsoft s patents. Yes, you read right: Euro 10,000 ( US$14,000 ). What [...]