A British Columbia judge has certified a class-action lawsuit
against Microsoft that alleges the software giant engaged in
anti-competitive behaviour that enabled it to charge higher prices
for its products.
Justice E.M. Meyers concluded in a ruling released Monday that
Vancouver-based Pro-Sys Consultants, which is leading the
plaintiffs in the case, has met requirements for certification for
the lawsuit to proceed as a class action.
The legal action against Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was launched in
2006 on behalf of a number of indirect purchasers who acquired
Microsoft software from resellers and from those who had Microsoft
software pre-installed on their computers.
They argue they were forced to pay more for the software
component of their purchase as a result of Microsoft's
anti-competitive actions.
Pro-Sys alleges that the indirect sellers suffered harm from
paying prices that were artificially inflated by anti-competitive
behaviour.
Its statement of claim alleges wrongdoings dating back to the
1980s, when Microsoft emerged as the standard for operating systems
"but by engaging in anti-competitive conduct Microsoft increased,
maintained and abused its dominance in the market."
None of the claims have been proven in court.
Meyers narrowed the scope of the suit to cover British
Columbians who indirectly acquired a licence for Microsoft
operating systems or application software for their own use and
those who bought computers with pre-installed Microsoft software
since January 1994.
Microsoft said around 582 operating systems and 879 applications
are at issue in the litigation.
Pro-Sys has referred to the case as one with a "dream record,"
because of a plethora of existing evidence from similar cases in
the United States.
Twenty-three similar lawsuits have been launched against
Microsoft in various U.S. courts. A number of these actions have
been settled.
EU antitrust regulators in December dropped their last pending
antitrust case against Microsoft after the company offered to let
users choose between its browser and others. This ended more than a
decade of legal trouble that resulted in euro1.7 billion in fines
for Microsoft.
