Bristol Technology, Microsoft Settle Litigation
Bristol Technology
reached an agreement with
Microsoft
(MSFT)
to end the antitrust litigation between the companies that began in 1998.
The details of the agreement weren't made public. In 1998, Bristol sued Microsoft for violations of antitrust law and Conneticut's fair trade statutes. A jury later found in favor of Microsoft on all the antitrust claims, but sided with Bristol on one claim under Connecticut law. The jury awarded compensatory
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damages of just $1 to Bristol.
Last September, a judge ordered
Microsoft to pay $1 million in damages to Bristol in response to Bristol's request for punitive damages under the state law. The judge ruled that Microsoft was reckless in its licensing practices, unfairly denying access to the code for its Windows operating system.
Bristol, which is privately held, provides software and services for corporate transactional data. The company is based in Danbury, Conn.
Shares of Microsoft, Redmond, Wash., gained 94 cents, or 1.7%, to $56.81 in recent
Nasdaq
trading.
