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Microsoft Settles Minnesota Antitrust Suit

An anonymous reader writes "According to the Star Tribune: 'The Microsoft antitrust suit in Minnesota was settled out-of-court Monday seven weeks after it began, but before the plaintiffs even finished putting on their case before the jury. Terms of the settlement won't be disclosed until they are finalized and presented to a Hennepin County judge for preliminary approval 'in early summer,' Microsoft said in a statement. The antitrust suit in Hennepin Country District Court sought as much as half a billion dollars from Microsoft for alleged overcharges of more than 1 million Minnesota consumers and businesses who bought Microsoft Windows, Word or Excel software between 1994 and 2001.'"

3 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Other Sources by JaxWeb · · Score: 5, Informative

    PC World

    Forbes

    FT.com (A good one!)

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    - Jax
  2. Re:What is Minnesota doing... by mls · · Score: 5, Informative

    What is Minnesota running out of money just like the EU? So they try to hit up the cash cow...

    Well, MN is running out of money, but that isn't what this is about.

    MN was one of the original states in the anti-trust lawsuit. When the other states settled, we didn't.

    It just took this long to pan out.

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    -mls
  3. M$ Settlements by blutrot · · Score: 5, Informative
    On the same case:
    ``Wash.-based software giant to reach trial. Microsoft has reached settlements in nine states and Washington, D.C., totaling $1.5 billion, including $1.1 billion in California. Cases were dismissed in 16 other states.'' Minnesota plaintiffs near court date with Microsoft on overcharge claims


    This leaves us with 24 more states that have not come to any decision or have not gone after Microsoft.

    Minnesota's citizens were overcharged between $10 to $70 a year. 9.7 million licenses were overcharged from 1994 to 2001. Silicon Valley