Microsoft has ended its three-year high-profile battle with the European Commission and agreed to comply with a landmark antitrust decision issued in 2004.

Neelie Kroes, the EU Competition Commissioner, yesterday announced the terms of the agreement, thrashed out over a private dinner with Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s president, and in subsequent discussions over the past three weeks.

Ms Kroes said: “It is a victory for the consumer. The measures that the Commission has insisted upon will benefit computer users by bringing competition and innovation back to the server market.”

Under the deal, the American software giant will have to make its inter-operability information available to open source software developers.

The royalties to be paid for the data may either be a one-off payment of €10,000 (£7,000) or, if a competitor wants a worldwide licence including patents, it must pay Microsoft 0.4 per cent of the turnover from the sales of its products. The US company had originally demanded 5.95 per cent.

Any disputes over the way the 2004 Commission ruling is implemented will be referred to London’s High Court.

Microsoft, which has already been fined almost €780 million by EU regulators for abusing its dominant position, suffered a major setback last month when Europe’s second-highest court, the Court of First Instance, rejected its appeal against the Commission’s original decision.

The Commission will now decide whether to impose further fines on the company for dragging its feet between December 16, 2005 and yesterday. These could be as high as €3 million a day and reach well over €1 billion.

Ms Kroes hinted at leniency yesterday, when she said: “Let’s look to the future. I hope we can close this dark chapter of our relationship and go ahead in a constructive and positive way.”

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