"
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2004/Feb04/02-26JFTCStatement.asp
Statement by Microsoft Corporation on
Reports of Japanese Fair Trade Commission
Inquiry
REDMOND, Wash. – Feb. 26, 2004 -- The
Japanese Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) sent
officers to Microsoft's offices in Tokyo
today to collect information regarding a
patent-related provision in Microsoft's
Windows and WinCE OEM contracts with PC and
device manufacturers.
This specific provision was reviewed and
passed muster under a competition law
assessment conducted by the European
Commission in 2001. The U.S. Department of
Justice reviewed the provision in the
mid-1990s. More recently, information
concerning the provision was presented to
the U.S. District Court of the District of
Columbia in connection with the remedies
phase of the antitrust lawsuit brought by
the U.S. Department of Justice and various
states. This patent-related provision
provided that OEMs who took a license to
Microsoft’s Windows operating system
products, including Microsoft’s patents on
Windows, should not later sue each other, or
Microsoft, on claims that Windows violates
their patents. Microsoft believes that the
patent-related provision is lawful under
Japanese, U.S., and EU law.
Microsoft recently reviewed this provision
again after receiving comments on it from
some of its OEM customers. Microsoft has
decided that, given its focus on improving
customer satisfaction, it would delete the
provision in its entirety from the next
round of OEM contracts, which will take
effect later this year. Microsoft last week
notified its OEM customers, including its
customers in Japan, that the provision would
be deleted.
Microsoft will continue to cooperate with
the JFTC as it proceeds with this inquiry."
CodeWarrior
raoulduke1
mawcs
