Report: Microsoft paid CCIA official as part of antitrust settlement

IDG News Service - The antitrust settlement between Microsoft Corp. and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) announced earlier this month included a payment of $9.75 million to the CCIA's president, according to a report published today.
Almost half of the $19.75 million total settlement went to Ed Black, who has been the president and CEO of the Washington-based industry organization since 1995, in a deal approved by the CCIA board, according to a report in the Financial Times. The newspaper cited confidential documents in its story.
A spokesman from Microsoft declined to comment on the FT report. The CCIA referred questions to Black, who couldn't be reached.
On Nov. 8, it was announced that Microsoft had reached agreements with the CCIA and Novell Inc., both of which had been major Microsoft opponents in a six-year anticompetition case before the European Union's executive branch, the European Commission.
As part of the settlement, the CCIA agreed to withdraw from any legal proceedings against Microsoft regarding the commission's competition ruling and the subsequent appeal currently before the EU's second-highest court, the European Court of First Instance (CFI). The CCIA also withdrew the complaint it filed to the Brussels regulator in 2003, leaving RealNetworks Inc. as the last remaining company with a broad-based complaint in the commission's case.
But the CCIA deal with Microsoft didn't sit well with all of the companies serving on the CCIA board, which includes Sun Microsystems Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Oracle Corp. Espoo, Finland-based Nokia Corp. resigned from the board because it disagreed with the terms of the deal.
"The settlement content and process were inappropriate," said Nokia spokeswoman Arja Suominen. "That's why we left the association." Suominen declined further comment.
According to the FT report, an annex to the agreement with the CCIA included a "one-time bonus" to Black along with a salary of $500,000 a year for the next three years. Furthermore, the agreement distinguishes between Microsoft's overall payment to the CCIA and the payments Black received.
At the time the deal was announced, the CCIA said that it was not retracting or changing positions taken in the past. However, Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel for Microsoft, did say the deals with the CCIA and Novell clearly demonstrated that the EU doesn't need to be involved with competition matters that can be settled directly between the companies in question.
CFI President Bo Vesterdorf called a meeting for tomorrow to discuss procedural matters surrounding the withdrawal of the CCIA and Novell from the case. Vesterdorf is currentlyconsidering a request from Microsoft that he issue an interlocutory order to suspend the Commission remedies against it until the CFI decides whether to affirm or annul the decision.
John Blau and Simon Taylor of the IDG News Service contributed to this story.