Microsoft Legal Update
Antitrust Settlement Fact Sheet
October 28, 2003 Since the antitrust suit filed by Department of Justice and a number of states in 1998 and the District Court issued its ruling in 2000, a number of private lawsuits have been filed related to the findings in that case. Today Microsoft has announced that settlement agreements have been reached in class action cases in five states and the District of Columbia. Over the course of the past year, Microsoft has made a concerted effort to resolve these legal issues through settlement or through dismissals by the Court. While the company continues to face legal challenges, it has made considerable progress in resolving these conflicts and in building a more constructive relationship with government and industry. Below is an update on where these cases stand. State Class Action Suits Court Dismissals of Claims Microsoft has won dismissals or denials of class certification in 18 states: | • | 13 States where dismissals with no other cases and no further opportunity for appeal: Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas. | | • | 3 States are still subject to appeal or appeal not final: Hawaii, Nebraska, Ohio, Wisconsin | | • | 2 States where class certification was denied: Maine and Michigan |
Settlements have been reached with preliminary approval granted by the Courts: | • | California announced in January, preliminary approval granted in July | | • | Florida announced and preliminary approval granted in April | | • | Montana announced and preliminary approval in April, final approval in September | | • | West Virginia announced and preliminary approval in June | | • | District of Columbia announced and granted preliminary approval in October | | • | Kansas announced and granted preliminary approval in October |
Settlement agreements reached and announced today: | • | North Dakota settlement agreement executed | | • | Tennessee settlement agreement executed | | • | South Dakota settlement agreement executed | | • | North Carolina settlement agreement executed |
Class Actions Suits -- Federal (MDL) The federal class action consumer suits, also known as multi-district litigation (MDL), were a consolidation of a number of class action cases that originally included potentially hundreds of millions of licensees. These cases (more than 100) were consolidated before Judge Motz of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, where through the pre-trial process, he narrowed the claims significantly throwing out the claims of indirect purchasers, foreign purchasers and refusing to certify a class of volume license customers.
With the recent September settlement of the remaining narrow class of end-user direct purchasers, all federal law claims on behalf of consumers have been addressed, subject to various appeals. Government Antitrust Suits 20 States and the Federal Government filed a suit against Microsoft in 1998 claiming violation of the antitrust laws. | • | Microsoft settled with South Carolina | | • | Microsoft settled with New Mexico in July of 2001. | | • | After court ordered settlement discussions, Microsoft reached settlement with the Department of Justice in November 2001 | | • | Nine states joined with the Department of Justice in the November 2001 settlement agreement: New York, O hio, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin | | • | Following a remedy trial and district court ruling, seven states (California, Utah, Connecticut, Iowa, Florida, Kansas, Minnesota) and the District of Columbia, accepted Judge Kollar-Kotellys judgment in November 2002. | | • | West Virginia accepted the District Court ruling and dropped its appeal in a settlement agreement with Microsoft in June of 2003. | | • | Massachusetts remains the only state that has not accepted the Courts ruling in this case. |
Private antitrust Suits | • | Netscape/AOL-Time Warner -- filed in January, 2002 and settlement reached in May, 2003 | | • | Be, Inc. filed in March, 2002 and settlement reached in June, 2003 | | • | Sun Microsystems filed in March 2002. Discovery process. Trial expected in 1-2 years. | | • | Burst.com filed in June of 2002. Patent infringement case with antitrust claims. Trial expected in 1-2 years. |
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