Florida Citizens' Anti-trust Payout Dwarfed By Lawyers'

According to Robin "Roblimo" Miller's article on NewsForge, Florida residents are receiving word by electronic and postal mail about the likely outcome of that state's class action suit against Microsoft (last mentioned on Slashdot last September): the upshot is that Florida residents who purchased a Microsoft operating system or Microsoft Office would be eligible for a settlement payment (in vouchers) of $5-12; the lawyers involved are seeking $48 million in fees. The settlement terms have several interesting clauses; for instance, by accepting, you would be agreeing to "settle and release all claims, demands, actions, suits, and causes of action against Microsoft and/or its directors, officers, employees, attorneys, insurers or agents, whether known or unknown, asserted or unasserted, that any member of the Florida Settlement Class ever had, could have had, now has or hereafter can, shall or may have, relating in any way to ... any conduct, act or omission that was or could have been alleged in this case as the basis for any antitrust or unfair competition claims."

Comments

The legal profession, the ultimate make wrk projec

[Jailbrekr]

is it really worth signing your rights away for a measely $12?

Another slap on the wrist

[AndyFewt]

Class Members will be eligible to receive a total maximum amount of $202 million in vouchers, worth $5 for each license for Microsoft MS-DOS, Windows versions 1.0 to 3.2, Windows NT Workstation, Windows 2000 Professional, Word, Excel and Office software, and $12 for each license for Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Millennium Edition that Class Members indirectly acquired in the United States between November 16, 1996 and December 31, 2002 for use in Florida

Isn't this just yet another slap on the wrist for microsoft. It just makes them use their ill gotten gains from the monopoly, which probably has earned them quite a bit in interest anyway. I have a feeling this is a bit like the previous case, give them some punishment which "looks" big but doesnt actually have any affect on them.

Re:What's the point of these suits?

[Doktor Memory]

In theory, the idea is not to enrich the individual plaintiffs, but to make the aggregate penalty high enough to get the company's notice.

In practice, it's rarely so simple, since for a company Microsoft's size, $202 Million (which sounds like "a lot" of money to any sane person) can not only be easily written off in any year's books, but probably doesn't even amount to the aggregate interest they earned on the licensing of the products in question.

Re:What's the point of these suits?

[rabidbat]

One way to stop these predatory lawsuits is to require that the lawyers get paid in coupons when the class members settlement is in coupons.

See http://overlawyered.com/archives/01/mar2.html#0316 a