Microsoft Settles Antitrust Litigation for $100 Million

By Evan Mix

Published on June 16, 2009

In what could be the last chapter of antitrust litigation that has dragged on for nearly a decade, software giant Microsoft, Inc. reached a settlement with the state of Mississippi valued at up to $100 million. The suit is the last and largest of 21 filed by various states after a federal court ruled in 2000 that Microsoft was abusing a near-monopoly by bundling its Internet Explorer web browser with the Windows operating system and making the browser impossible to uninstall.

Under the terms of the settlement, Microsoft will pay $40 million to the state of Mississippi and set aside an additional $60 million to be distributed among those who purchased and used Windows. Any consumer or institution that purchased the software between January of 1996 and June 11, 2009 is eligible for restitution. If some of the consumer money is left over, the state could claim up to an additional $8 million.

Microsoft also announced this week that it would remove Internet Explorer from the European release of its upcoming operating system, Windows 7. The move was announced after the government of the European Union launched a probe with the aim of determining whether Microsoft's bundling violates European antitrust laws.

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