Microsoft wins overcharging case

A CALIFORNIAN judge has chucked out a claim against the software giant Microsoft that it might have charged too much for its software.

The claim, made by five California cities and counties, was rejected because US District Court Judge Frederick Motz said some of the plaintiffs were not allowed to sue because of their status as municipal corporations. He also said that the statute of limitations had expired on several of the claims.

The case was almost identical to another that the Vole spent more than $1.1 billion settling out of court in 2003.

Although California's government agencies took part in the earlier class-action suit against Microsoft, they were not allowed to collect on the final settlement because the court agreement excluded government entities.

Now it looks like a court action of their own has not gotten them anywhere either. Doh!

More here. µ