Microsoft to settle private antitrust suits
C|Net | at | by Mike
Microsoft once again may have snatched a victory at the settlement table that it might not have been able to achieve in the courtroom. Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft has cut a deal that would dismiss more than 100 pending private antitrust cases against the company. Lawyers brought the majority of the cases last year after a federal judge ruled that Microsoft had violated two sections of the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act.
If approved by a federal judge in Baltimore, the agreement could help Microsoft increase its presence in schools, where rival Apple Computer is the market-share leader. Under proposed terms of the settlement, Microsoft would donate reconditioned computers, software, services and training valued at over $1 billion to 14 percent of the nation's poorest schools, said sources familiar with the agreement.