Redmond settles suit with company shareholders

Nov 26, 2015 12:43 GMT  ·  By
Microsoft has agreed to settle the lawsuit and open an office to prevent anti-trust violations
   Microsoft has agreed to settle the lawsuit and open an office to prevent anti-trust violations

Microsoft can’t simply forget about the browser fiasco that brought it a huge $731 million (€561 million) fine for not complying with the requirements of the European Commission.

This time, the software giant has settled a lawsuit with two shareholders that started legal action against the board for the mistakes they made and that ultimately led to the record fine received by the company.

Back in 2009, the European Commission started an anti-trust investigation against Microsoft because the firm wasn’t offering a browser choice screen for users on the Old Continent and pushed Internet Explorer as the one application for loading websites.

Microsoft agreed with EU’s demands and promised to update Windows 7 systems in Europe with a browser ballot screen, but the company failed to do so, which eventually led to a record fine for violating the agreement.

Millions of dollars to prevent anti-trust violations

Two company shareholders, Kim Barovic and Stephen DiPhilipo, complained to the board about the lack of reaction, but because their opinions were quickly rejected, they decided to sue the company for the error.

Microsoft and the two shareholders agreed to settle the lawsuit, with Redmond not only to pay them and their lawyers $7.3 million (€6.5 million) but also to create a so-called Antitrust Compliance Office that would closely analyze any antitrust issue taking place in Europe or the United States.

According to The Seattle Times, Microsoft will invest up to $42.5 million (€38.5 million) over the next five years to fund this new office, which will report directly to the company’s board to make sure that no violations such as the one that took place in Europe will happen again.

Microsoft hasn’t yet issued a public statement, but a company spokesman has told the aforementioned source that everyone’s pleased that this case is now over and they can continue with “the work already under way.”