Prometheus 6   

W.Va. Settles With Microsoft
By Darryl K. Taft

On Monday night, Microsoft announced preliminary approval of settlement of the consolidation of two lawsuits. The total value of the settlement is $21 million, the company said. And it settles both class action consumer claims against Microsoft as well as the claims West Virginia made in the federal antitrust case. In addition, the settlement also provides that one-half of any unclaimed proceeds will go to West Virginia's most needy public schools in the form of vouchers for hardware, software and professional development services, the company said.

And, according to Microsoft, additional terms of the settlement include $1 million "in additional vouchers to West Virginia schools for hardware and software from any manufacturer, $700,000 in general purpose vouchers to the Office of the West Virginia Attorney General to be distributed at his discretion to benefit West Virginia citizens, and payments from Microsoft to the Office of the West Virginia Attorney General to be used for consumer protection purposes" and for costs to administer the appeal.