On the day Microsoft and Burst.com were to square off again in a Baltimore courtroom, the tiny Santa Rosa, Calif.-based company announced that it had agreed to settle its seven-year-old suit against the software giant. Terms of the settlement, announced on Thursday, weren"t disclosed, and executives at the two companies weren"t available for comment. Burst.com, creator of video and audio delivery software for IP networks, claimed that Redmond stole technology and trade secrets acquired during two years of negotiations.
It brought suit against Microsoft in June 2002, charging anti-competitive behavior and the violation of state and federal anti-trust laws. The Burstware delivery system, consisting of a server, conductor and player, is designed to optimize networks while delivering multimedia. The company, founded in 1998, was originally an official Microsoft partner, and expected its technology to be incorporated in Windows Media Player. But instead, the company alleges, Microsoft used its technology without paying for it.