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The Fair Trade Commission said Wednesday it will continue to deliberate whether Microsoft violated anti-trust laws, despite the fact that rival RealNetworks has dropped its complaint. RealNetworks on Tuesday agreed to drop charges against the U.S, software giant in a settlement deal valued at US$761 million, withdrawing a suit in the U.S. and complaints in Korea and the EU.
"The Microsoft antitrust case did not aim to settle a suit filed by a company but to investigate allegations that it skewed competition in the market,¡± FTC competition chief Kim Byeong Bae said. ¡°So we will continue our investigation." The commission started to investigate the case in April under its own steam, before RealNetworks filed the complaint in October, he added.
The commission is currently busy fact-finding and will announce the results late this month or next month.
RealNetworks alleged that Microsoft, by bundling its Media Player and Media Server programs into its Windows operating system, harmed competitors like the company¡¯s own RealPlayer.
Meanwhile, Korea's second largest portal Daum Communications, which also filed an antitrust complaint against Microsoft in 2001 for bundling its instant messenger software with its Windows program, said it had no plans to withdraw the complaint.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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