EU Clears Sony, Philips Purchase
Monday December 23, 8:22 am ET
European Commission Clears Sony, Philips $453 Million Purchase of InterTrust Technologies Corp.
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- The European Commission on Monday approved the $453 million purchase of InterTrust Technologies Corp. by a group that includes Sony Corp.'s Amercian unit and Royal Philips Electronics NV of the Netherlands.
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Santa Clara, Calif.-based InterTrust, which is locked in a patent fight with Microsoft Corp., specializes in a field called digital-rights management.
DRM software enforces rules on the usage of computerized text, music, movies or other content -- technology that could be used to prevent digitalized music from unauthorized copying.
In a statement, the EU head office said the deal raised "no serious competition concerns" because the market for such software is in its infancy and already a number of a strong competitors are present.
Under the agreement, Fidelio Acquisition Co., which includes Sony of America, Philips and other investors, will acquire InterTrust for $4.25 a share.
InterTrust, which once negotiated to build its copyright-protection software into Microsoft's Windows operating system, accuses the software giant of violating its patents, and company officials have discussed damage figures in the billions of dollars.
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