Two neutral arbitrators announced yesterday that they had approved the secure facility established in Japan in which Fujitsu Ltd personnal will be able to examine the source code of the latest releases of IBM’s MVS operating system, and appointed Eisuke Ikuta the independent Administrator of the facility. IBM is required to deliver to the secured facility licensed manuals and source code requested by Fujitsu, and specified Fujitsu personnel not otherwise engaged in software development, may examine the material inside the facility, and extract and document on survey sheets only the interface data specified by the arbitrators. Once the survey sheets have been checked, they can be taken back to Fujitsu and the company is free to use the interface information with immunity in its independent development of software – working from information on what IBM’s programs do, not how they do it. Extraction of the program’s structural or detailed design, internal component or module interfaces or other implementation details is not permitted. Fujitsu will pay IBM, on an annual basis for access to the facility, and for immunity rights: for access to existing programs and ones introduced during the first year, Fujitsu will pay between $25.671m to $51.342m, depending on usage. The secured facility regime applies on an equal and reciprocal basis to both parties, and each has the right to establish such a facility, but IBM at present has no plans to do so. Fujitsu may examine manuals and source for IBM programs released before January 1, 1994 and can ask for them until January 1, 1996, when the secured facility will be closed. After that, if Fujitsu is unable to get the data it needs for programs released up to June 25, 1997, from freely available manuals and object code, it will either be given the information directly by IBM or be allowed to derive it from specified licensed manuals or source code until January 1, 1999. The arbitrators have continuing jurisdiction over all related disputes between the two companies up until November 29, 2002.
