A court ruled in 2000 that Microsoft was in breach of antitrust regulations. That triggered attempts by several US states to bring class actions on behalf of their consumers. Seventeen of these have been dismissed or been denied class action status, although four have still to be appealed.
A further four actions settled earlier this year, including a massive £1.1 billion settlement with the state of California.
Microsoft yesterday announced that it has reached agreement with the states of Kansas, the District of Columbia, North Carolina, Tennessee, North Dakota and South Dakota.
The settlement kitty for each state can be claimed by Microsoft customers involved in the class action, and will take the form of vouchers for the purchase of technology products and services – and not just Microsoft's.
The vouchers will cover any manufacturer's desktop, laptop or tablet computers running any operating system, or any software.
Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will provide half of any unclaimed settlement proceeds to each state's most needy public schools. The schools will be able to use the vouchers to purchase computer equipment, software and training from any manufacturer. The remaining half will be retained by Microsoft.
This is not the end of the road for the antitrust class actions, however, as all of the settlements require judicial approval, and five other actions are still outstanding.
Microsoft also faces antitrust suits from Sun Microsystems, Burst.com and the State of Massachusetts, while the European Commission is carrying out its own investigation into the company's alleged anti-competitive behaviour.