EU: Microsoft Royalties 'Prohibitively High'

Microsoft could very well be barred from collecting royalties on technical information provided under a settlement with the European Commission, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

According to a document obtained by the paper, Microsoft has been informed that it could collect either zero or one percent of sales of software based on that technical data. The Redmond company has been asking for 5.95 percent.

Last month, the European Commission charged that Microsoft was asking for too much in return for access to technical data. The document appears to be in response to that claim and is authored by Neil Barrett, who the two sides agreed upon to act as mediator.

Barrett called the rate "prohibitively high" and said that even a one percent royalty rate would be unacceptable. Thus, he suggests that the company should not be permitted to charge anything at all.

The FT lists three rivals as having reviewed Microsoft's pricing structure and agreeing with the assessment. The parties involved are believed to be IBM, Sun and Oracle.

Microsoft has been given until April 23 to respond to the charges.