Class Action Cases Against Microsoft
Antitrust liability, causation, damages and class certification for plaintiffs
An end-consumer class of individuals and businesses in California sued Microsoft for monopoly overcharges on the Windows operating system, and Word and Excel applications. The case was originally filed in early 1999, nearly a year before Judge Jackson found Microsoft liable in the federal antitrust case, U.S. v. Microsoft. The Lingo case was also notable because the plaintiffs alleged that Microsoft had illegally obtained and maintained monopolies in desktop word processing and spreadsheet software; the U.S. government case concerned only the Windows operating system market. The Lingo plaintiffs alleged that Microsoft engaged in a number of illegal acts, including contractual exclusions, knowing deception of competitors concerning the role of OS/2, and the withholding and manipulation of technical information and programming interfaces.
ApplEcon provided expert witness testimony on class certification, antitrust causation and damages, and expert witness research and support on liability, for the Lingo plaintiffs. ApplEcon also provided testimony and witness preparation support on the same issues for several subsequently filed cases: Gordon et al. v. Microsoft (Minnesota); Friedman et al. and Lucero et al. v. Microsoft (Arizona); Joe Comes et al. v. Microsoft (Iowa); In Re: New Mexico Indirect Purchasers Microsoft Corporation Antitrust Litigation New Mexico; Cox et al. v. Microsoft (New York); and Candace Bettendorf et al. v. Microsoft (Wisconsin). We have also testified on class certification for plaintiff classes in Montana, Massachusetts, and Michigan.
On 21 November 2001 some of the plaintiffs and Microsoft jointly proposed a settlement of all of the private suits. We provided an economic analysis to Judge Motz in federal district court (Baltimore) and testified during the settlement proceedings. Our California clients opposed the proposed settlement; Judge Motz did not grant approval.
During 2003 our California clients reached a $1.1 billion settlement with Microsoft. We provided extensive analysis and consultation in support of this settlement.
In 2004 the Minnesota consumers went to trial against Microsoft. After about two months of trial, the parties reached a $175 million settlement.
We have also provided settlement analysis and support to our clients in Arizona, New Mexico, Montana and Massachusetts, who have successfully reached settlements with Microsoft.
For further information on the California case, see:
"Judge OKs $1.1 billion Microsoft deal", CNET News.com. 21 July 2003
"Proposed Microsoft settlement receives early approval", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 18 July 2003
"Settlement OK'd in Microsoft class action case in California", Computerworld, 21 July 2003