• by March 15, 2005

Here's an interesting news item that flew over the transom. Microsoft, it seems, agreed to settle a patent infringement and antitrust suit with Burst.com for $60 million.

Burst, a Santa Rosa, Calif.-based company that makes software for streaming audio and video over the Web, filed suit against Microsoft in June 2002 alleging that the software giant infringed on its patent and store trade secrets for distributing A/V content over the Internet.

Microsoft, as part of the settlement, agreed to license Burst's patent but will continue developing software to extend its Windows Media technology.

Microsoft faces other lawsuits from Novell and RealNetworks, along with class-action claims. Novell filed an antitrust suit last year claiming that Microsoft tried to quash competition for office productivity software applications when Novell owned the WordPerfect and Quattro Pro applications. Last November, Microsoft paid $536 million to Novell to settle claims related to its NetWare application. In 2003, RealNetworks filed suit accusing Microsoft of trying to exert control over the digital media market.