THE VIGOROUS LATIN AMERICAN LAW Influence by Spanish, French, Italian, German and North American law has

made a symbiosis laboratory in Latin America, generating a new law that encompasses institutions that have no positive expression in many European countries. Last 19th October, our founding partner, Doctor Sergio Rodrguez-Azuero,

delivered a speech as guest professor at the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas in Madrid, Spain, in order to present the fifth edition of his book Contratos Bancarios. Su Significacin en Amrica Latina (Banking contracts. Their meaning in Latin America). The event was attended by distinguished commercial law professors, arbitrators, lawyers and students, as well as by doctor Alejandro Venegas-Franco, dean of the Universidad del Rosario Law School, and Ms. Noem Sann Posada, Colombias ambassador to Spain. Starting with the respectful recognition, reciprocal admiration and the fervent and profound desire to face together a common fate, and making emphasis on the deep similarities existing between the Rosario and Comillas Universities, he began to make reference to the historical background, the decisive participation and influence of Spain in all Spanish-talking countries, and of Portugal in Brazil, as a starting point for all subsequent developments, based on local traditions and considerably influenced by the North American legal tradition, which came to vigorously insufflate our institutions, particularly since the beginning of the 20th century. The speaker made reference, as an example, to the Trust Agreement in Colombia; he talked about its origin and most remarkable characteristics, and its legal, judiciary and doctrinal evolution, as well as its importance in the local economy, stating that through the different contract structures, by June,

2005, the sums involved in trust-related businesses amount up to some seventy billion pesos, which end up being equivalent to more than twenty five thousand million euros. All in all, the concurrent and successive influence from Spanish and North American law, French doctrine, German Thought, as well as that from the Italian Commercial and Penal Law schools, met in Latin American Universities, where they forged our doctrine and jurisprudence which, far from automatically and formally reproducing the foreign sources, generated literature,

through the passing of centuries- new solutions as well as legal multicultural and racial reality. NEW COMPETITION POLICIES OF THE SOFTWARE GIANT

solidly anchored in our experiences, and considerably influenced by our own

Recent agreements reached by Microsoft change the competition landscape between the big software-development companies. Microsoft announced October 12, 2005 that it was making its instant messaging program compatible with that of Yahoo!'s, just a day after it agreed to pay $761 million to settle an antitrust case brought by rival media player company RealNetworks. The agreement with RealNetworks is the latest in a string of settlements with companies and governments that have filed antitrust cases against Microsoft 3 .

Microsoft in recent years has also kissed and made up with the federal government, a number of states, IBM, Sun Microsystems, Gateway, Novell and AOL, which, like CNN/Money, is owned by Time Warner. www.cnn.com

Microsoft recently allowed rival Palm to launch a new smart phone that will run on Microsoft's mobile software and the company is even rumored to be in talks with AOL about some sort of alliance or joint venture. The AOL negotiations are not particularly worth noting since some analysts believe that online search firm Google has emerged as perhaps Microsoft's most formidable competitor ever. Several analysts have said that rivals and investors do not entirely trust Microsofts intentions: they believe that underneath all the talk about partnerships and collaboration lays the same old Microsoft, a company looking for ways to reignite its moribund earnings growth, and extend its dominance in the software market. In addition, Microsoft announced a new program called Microsoft Intellectual Property (IP) Ventures in May, having as goal to license some of Microsoft's inhouse technology to other companies. Some people have said that royalties and licensing fees could be a huge source of growth for Microsoft in the future, heading to achieve IBMs success in making money from its proprietary technology. Big Blue generated nearly $1.2 billion in intellectual property income in 2004, according to its annual report. There's also the Google threat, which alongside Yahoo!, is outshining Microsoft's MSN in the online search arena. In October, Google announced a partnership with Sun Microsystems. Although the terms of this partnership were vague, some analysts have said that a deal with Sun could help Google eventually become a more direct competitor to Microsoft in the company's main businesses, i.e., Windows operating system software and Office suite of

tools, such as Word and Excel. These two businesses 4

accounted for 60

percent of the company's total sales in the second quarter of the year. Richard Williams, an analyst at Garban Institutional Equities, said that if Microsoft truly wants to battle Google online, then it will need to earn the trust of customers. He thinks that burying the hatchet with old rivals is one way to do so. In addition, the Instant Messaging deal with Yahoo! and the speculation about a partnership with AOL will also help Microsoft, according to the said expert. In other words, if you can't beat them, join them, or at least cooperate with them. "These settlements and collaborations are cleansing the table. It is a preamble to a larger strategic move, "Microsoft is trying to keep a relevant MSN position" said Williams. Participants in this issue: Sergio Rodrguez Azuero Daniel Rodrguez Bravo Julio Cesar Quintero Hernndez Camilo Gantiva Hidalgo abogados@rodriguezazuero.com www.rodriguezazuero.com

The Editorial Board of Rodrguez-Azuero Asociados S.A. made this bulletin for an informative and academic value; therefore its content does not constitute legal advice. The publication of this bulletin is only authorized by quoting the source.
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