Antitrust data on Microsoft to be allowed in suit
SeattlePI | at | by Mike
Court findings that Microsoft Corp. unlawfully protected its monopoly for personal-computer software can be used in a suit by California computer owners seeking billions of dollars in damages, a judge said yesterday. The ruling is a significant setback to the company, which had sought to keep the findings in the federal government's antitrust lawsuit from being used in the California case. The consumers claim they were forced to pay inflated prices for software because of Microsoft's monopoly.
"You've just taken care of half the case," said Ernest Gellhorn, an antitrust law professor at George Mason University. "That's an enormous victory."
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Paul Alvarado said jurors in the trial, set for February, should be given a judge's findings from the federal government's antitrust case that Microsoft illegally protected its Windows monopoly for personal computer operating software.