US jury awards Microsoft $1 in first legal battle

Microsoft won a legal battle last week, when a US jury ruled that it had not violated anti-trust laws in its dealing with Bristol Technology.

The case was the smallest of three suits filed against the software giant, one by the US Justice Department, and the other by Caldera Software, which sells the DR-Dos rival to Microsoft's MS-Dos operating system (OS).

But the eight-member jury, which returned its verdict after the third day of deliberations, found that Microsoft had committed deceptive practices against Bristol in violation of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act and awarded the company the derisory sum of $1 as a result.

Bristol said it was disappointed and surprised by the verdict and would now explore its options.

Tom Burt, associate general counsel at Microsoft, said: "As the jury's decision shows, the record indicates that Microsoft offered to license its technology to Bristol under fair and competitive terms."

He added: "Bristol's major competitor, Mainsoft, licensed the same technology under the same terms that Bristol rejected. Main-soft testified that Microsoft's terms were completely reasonable."

Bristol filed the suit against the software giant in August, alleging that Microsoft illegally prevented it from obtaining the source code to its Windows 2000 OS, which Bristol needed to develop its Windows on Unix emulation software. The firm had been insisting on damages of between $131m and $263m and access to Microsoft source code.