Amid mounting pressure from competition regulators, Microsoft will scrap a clause in its licensing contracts with PC manufacturers that prevents the vendors from enforcing any hardware patents that may have implications for software.

Tom Brookes, a Microsoft spokesperson, said the clause will be removed from all Windows licensing agreement renewals starting this August, to keep OEMs 'happy'... right.

He denies that simultaneous investigations of Microsoft by Japanese and European competition regulators led the software firm to scrap the clause. "It's coincidental," he says