Microsoft yesterday proposed a settlement in federal court of more than 100 purported class-action antitrust suits contending that it overcharged consumers. Lawyers who crafted the proposal call it "innovative and visionary" because the proceeds would not go to the customers who supposedly suffered damages but to schools in low-income neighborhoods that have nothing to do with the case at all. The settlement, if approved, would remove a thorn in Microsoft's side by ridding it of numerous suits at what is--for Microsoft--a modest price: $550 million to $1 billion, but payable over five years, much of it in the form of Microsoft's own products. While the schools will get hardware and software, it was not announced what the lawyers will be paid--or whether that payment will be in cash or software.
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