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Microsoft Settles Antitrust Suit with Vouchers

Posted by timothy on from the now-with-extra-lock-in dept.

TedCheshireAcad writes "Microsoft has apparently settled its antitrust case with the state of Arizona by offering $104 million in product vouchers. Arizona consumers in the state from 1996 to 2002 will get $15 for their past operating system purchases and $9 for past application purchases. Public schools in Arizona will get 50% of unclaimed vouchers and 50% of vouchers that have been claimed but not redeemed for software products. I remember when lawsuits were settled with money, not monopoly propogation."

4 of 29 comments (clear)

  1. Vouchers just for M$ products? by djcapelis · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Can the vouchers be used for other things like with several other settlements? Or does it have to just be refunded for more M$ crap?

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    I touch computers in naughty places
  2. Re:Aren't punishments supposed to punish? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Right. My mistake. Still seems like Microsoft got the better deal though. If I were Arizona's lawyers, I'd have held out for at least a few million in cash. It still wouldn't hurt Microsoft noticably, but it'd be a hell of a lot more useful than a bunch of vouchers for MS Office.

  3. Re:other companies by MachDelta · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Except they're not even giving you anything of value on its own! Its like being given a fucking gift certificate to HMV after one of their CD racks fell on you and crushed your legs. That'd go over like a lead baloon, yet Microsoft can practically get away with murder? I don't get it. Something is seriously fucked with the system if this is what passes for "modern justice".

  4. Re:Right... by cgenman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'd like you to point out one such case against a monopolist that you remember where money (and nothing else) was paid in restitution.

    There is a very famous case, which supports the voucher "punishment," whereby for its rampant and flagrant price fixing Nintendo was ordered to send out $5 vouchers to its customers. The irony was that Nintendo at the time was making more than $5 per cartridge sold thanks to its flagrant price fixing, so even when being "punished" it was making a profit due to the activity it was being punished for.

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