More CCIA and EU details

The Financial Times reports today on confidential documents detailing Microsoft's settlement with the Computer & Communications Industry Association and the portion the association gave to its leader. The total payment was $19.75 million, the Financial Times says, and the CCIA board approved giving $9.75 million of that sum to Ed Black, the group's president. Black was one of Microsoft's most vocal critics, as we detailed in our Insider column last week.

In related news, the Associated Press reports on the European Commission's response to the EU judge's apparent desire to talk about the impact of the CCIA and Novell settlements on the broader European case: "Just the fact that certain parties have withdrawn from the proceedings doesn't change the facts of the case at all," EU antitrust spokesman Jonathan Todd told the AP. "Hence the proceedings will follow their normal course at the court."