Microsoft wins Bristol antitrust case

Microsoft Corporation won a stunning victory Friday when a federal jury inConnecticut ruled that the software giant did not violate U.S. or stateantitrust law in a case brought against it by Bristol Technology, Inc. Andin a stunning slap in the face to the small New England company, the juryordered Microsoft to pay $1 (yes, you read that right: one DOLLAR) indamages. The message was clear: The case was frivolous: don't even try toappeal.

"Microsoft is extremely grateful to the jury and extremely pleased bytoday's outcome. This decision represents an important victory for theentire software industry by upholding the rights of companies that developintellectual property to license their technology in a fair and equitablemanner," Microsoft said in a statement delivered late Friday. "As the jury'sdecision indicates, the record clearly shows that Microsoft offered tolicense its technology to Bristol under fair and competitive terms. Indeed,Bristol's major competitor, Mainsoft Corp. of Sunnyvale, Calif., licensedthis same technology under the same terms that Bristol rejected, andMainsoft testified that Microsoft's terms were completely reasonable."

The case centered on Wind/U software, an early type of multi-user add-on forWindows NT. Bristol was attempting to license Windows NT and felt thatMicrosoft's terms were predatory.

"This is a complete victory for Microsoft," said David Tulchin, a Microsoftlawyer