MS settles Florida class suit with $202m pay-off

Microsoft has squared a class action suit which accused the company of violating Florida's antitrust and unfair competition laws with a pay-off of up to $202m. This will be distributed in the form of vouchers to class action members which they redeem for computer hardware, software and training - from any supplier.

MS says it will set aside half of any vouchers unclaimed to redistribute to Florida's "most needy public schools". According to MS, up to 695,000 students in 1,600 schools - a third of Florida' school intake could benefit.

The settlement covers class action members who bought licenses to MS desktop and OS software between Nov 16, 1995, and Dec 31, 2002, for use in the state of Florida. ®