Microsoft and Corel-- More Not Good News
Have a look at the 8-K filing. Contains some interesting detail on the share deal. A pretty fair summary can be found at dailynews.yahoo.com
It goes like this. Corel have committed to build a Linux port to .Net - "Corel hereby grants Microsoft an option for Corel to Port some portion or all of the .NET Framework from the Windows Platform to the Linux Platform (the 'Port Project')" The revenue to Corel from this is ..... $zero. Not from the porting exercise, which will take out twenty developers and ten testers (read:$2.5m to $3m per year. Straight off the bottom line), nor from the IP they create, which will be Microsoft property. Corel will be charged royalties, just like every other customer.
Sound like a great deal? No? That's because it was in fact a punishment, levied in return for an agreement by Microsoft not to sue Corel.....
"Microsoft covenants to Corel that neither Microsoft nor any of its Affiliates shall sue Corel based on any claim that current or past versions of Corel Office Professional or Corel WordPerfect Suite (and successor Corel WordPerfect office productivity products) (collectively, the "Covenanted Products") infringe Microsoft's U.S. Patents 5,510,980; 5,272,628; 5,287,514; and 5,437,036" |
