The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service said Friday that it had approved a $7 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems by Oracle on the condition that Oracle continues to develop Sun's MySQL database.
The anti-monopoly service said it would have grounds to go to court and demand invalidation of the deal, already approved unconditionally by the European Union, if Oracle does not comply with its requirements.
The regulator said Oracle must continue to create new versions of MySQL within the generally accessible license and should not oblige clients to buy its services if they want to get a commercial license for MySQL.
The condition would only apply for four years after the deal is formally completed, the service said in a statement.
In January, Oracle won European Union approval for the takeover after promising to keep the market open for others to make storage engine software for Sun's MySQL database and to boost investment in the unit.
It also pledged to set up a separate customer advisory board of MySQL users. Those concessions satisfied Europe's competition watchdog that the deal would not distort the market.
But Michael Widenius, creator of the MySQL database, who is strongly opposed to the merger plan, said the EU executive's decision was wrong and turned his vocal campaign against the deal to Russia and China.
Beijing has not yet issued a ruling on the plan.
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