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Software giant settles with AOL Time Warner

Friday, May 30, 2003 | 9:52 a.m.

Microsoft agreed to pay AOL Time Warner $750 million in a legal settlement on Thursday that marks the end of one of the bitterest rivalries in modern corporate history and commits the companies to cooperating.

Microsoft will grant AOL a seven-year royalty-free license to its Internet browsing software, and faster and greater access to Microsoft's Windows operating system. Microsoft will also grant AOL Time Warner a long-term license to its software for delivering music and video over the Internet. The companies also agreed to discuss how to open up their networks for sending and receiving instant messages over the Internet.

The cooperation agreement includes a $750 million payment from Microsoft to settle a private antitrust suit brought by AOL Time Warner's Netscape unit in January 2002. The private case followed a ruling by a federal appeals court in the long-running suit against Microsoft brought by the government in 1998.

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