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12-01-2003, Sun 12:41 AM
SAN FRANCISCO - Microsoft reached a $1.1 billion settlement with consumers in California who accused the software giant of violating the state's antitrust and unfair competition laws.
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Critics immediately labeled the pact a sellout.
Under the agreement announced Friday night, proceeds of the settlement will be distributed in the form of vouchers redeemable for computers and software products.
The settlement stems from a class-action lawsuit filed in 1999 on behalf of California consumers and businesses and covers those who bought Microsoft's operating system, productivity suite, spreadsheet or word processing software between February 1995 and December 2001.
Lawyers for both sides said the deal, which must be approved by a judge, could benefit more than 13 million consumers and 3 million children in 4,700 schools. Details about how consumers could take advantage of the voucher offers would only be spelled out after a judge approves the agreement, Microsoft lawyers said Friday.
Similar antitrust class-action lawsuits have been filed in 16 other states.
"California represented by far the largest number of remaining lawsuits and by far the largest number of consumers affected," Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said. "We feel very good that we've put these cases behind us in California, and we feel confident about resolving other cases as well."
The Redmond, Wash.-based company would not say whether it was negotiating agreements similar to the California settlement with the other states.
The private antitrust lawsuits are separate from a case Microsoft settled last year with the Justice Department
and several states.
Critics immediately blasted the settlement, saying California "sold out" to the software giant in part because of a $34.6 billion budget deficit and the continuing economic downturn.
delayed 20 mins - disclaimer
Quote Data provided by Reuters
Our Business Section is growing!
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Stock Markets, Earnings, Economy and more...
Business Front
Critics immediately labeled the pact a sellout.
Under the agreement announced Friday night, proceeds of the settlement will be distributed in the form of vouchers redeemable for computers and software products.
The settlement stems from a class-action lawsuit filed in 1999 on behalf of California consumers and businesses and covers those who bought Microsoft's operating system, productivity suite, spreadsheet or word processing software between February 1995 and December 2001.
Lawyers for both sides said the deal, which must be approved by a judge, could benefit more than 13 million consumers and 3 million children in 4,700 schools. Details about how consumers could take advantage of the voucher offers would only be spelled out after a judge approves the agreement, Microsoft lawyers said Friday.
Similar antitrust class-action lawsuits have been filed in 16 other states.
"California represented by far the largest number of remaining lawsuits and by far the largest number of consumers affected," Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said. "We feel very good that we've put these cases behind us in California, and we feel confident about resolving other cases as well."
The Redmond, Wash.-based company would not say whether it was negotiating agreements similar to the California settlement with the other states.
The private antitrust lawsuits are separate from a case Microsoft settled last year with the Justice Department
and several states.
Critics immediately blasted the settlement, saying California "sold out" to the software giant in part because of a $34.6 billion budget deficit and the continuing economic downturn.