A US federal appeals court has dismissed a class-action anti-trust lawsuit filed by Gravity Inc. against Microsoft, according to media reports. Gravity claimed that Microsoft conspired with Compaq Computer and Dell to maintain its monopoly over operating systems.

Gravity initially filed a class-action suit in 1999, alleging that its litigation support software was being undermined by Microsoft's alleged monopoly practices. Gravity also claimed that Microsoft, Compaq, Dell and Hewlett Packard were conspiring to lock up the market for operating system software.

The lawsuit was dismissed in January 2001, but Gravity filed a new suit against Microsoft, Dell and Compaq alleging that agreements between the companies produced "anti-competitive effects."

However the US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, VA, apparently ruled on Monday that Gravity could not provide "any factual basis" to support its allegations and therefore the lawsuit could not proceed.

Approximately 63 anti-trust lawsuits against Microsoft are still pending, including those filed by AOL Time Warner and Sun Microsystems.

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