Microsoft Pays $23m to Settle BeOS Antitrust Suit.Defunct operating system vendor Be Inc has agreed to drop its antitrust litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. against Microsoft Corp, the company it accused of destroying its business, in exchange for $23.25m in cash, the companies announced late Friday. The lawsuit was filed in United States District Court for the District of Maryland The United States District Court for the District of Maryland is the Federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Maryland. Notable judges in this district include William Paca, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. in February 2002. Microsoft, which does not admit any wrongdoing wrong·do·er n. One who does wrong, especially morally or ethically. wrong  do , will also pay Be's legal fees under the brokered
deal. Other terms were not disclosed.
In the lawsuit, Be blamed Microsoft for "the destruction of Be's business resulting from the anticompetitive an·ti·com·pet·i·tive adj. That discourages competition among businesses: anticompetitive foreign trade restrictions. business practices of Microsoft", specifically with regards to Microsoft's well-documented power over its PC OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and channel. Be had claimed that Hitachi Ltd had verbally agreed in 1998 that BeOS would be installed alongside Windows in a line of PCs, under a dual boot system. Be alleged that Microsoft expressed "anger" with Hitachi and compelled it to change its strategy. At that time, if Hitachi had pre-installed BeOS, according to Be, under Microsoft's discount policy it would also have been forced to pay a higher price for Windows, which could seriously harm any PC maker's business. Be also alleged that a deal with Compaq Computer Corp (now Hewlett-Packard Co) in 1998 to develop a BeOS-powered internet appliance fell through after Microsoft chairman Bill Gates applied pressure to Compaq's then-CEO Eckhard Pfieffer. Be, which sold essentially all its assets to Palm Inc for $11m in November 2001, three months before the suit was filed, is still a publicly traded company publicly traded company A company whose shares of common stock are held by the public and are available for purchase by investors. The shares of publicly traded firms are bought and sold on the organized exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. , but exists mainly to see its various legal actions to conclusion. The Be payoff marks the second of the several private antitrust suits, which were filed following the company's run-in with the US federal government, that Microsoft has settled this year. In May, AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. Time Warner Inc settled its private Microsoft antitrust suit for $750m. The deal also included an array of promises to cooperate on technological issues, such as instant messaging and access to Windows code. |
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