A group of California cities and counties on Friday filed a class action lawsuit against Microsoft Corp., saying that the world's largest software maker overcharged government agencies for software.
The suit, which claimed that Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft violated state antitrust and unfair competition laws, was filed in San Francisco Superior Court on behalf of other California cities and government entities, said Dennis Herrera, city attorney for the City and County of San Francisco.
The complaint represents government consumers who bought Windows operating system software or Windows Word and Excel spreadsheet software after Feb. 18, 1995, and seeks an unspecified amount of damages.
"We value our relationship with these cities and have been grateful for the opportunity to provide them with software at very reasonable prices," said Microsoft spokeswoman Stacy Drake, adding that the company could comment further after lawyers review the claims in the lawsuit.
The suit accused Microsoft of acting to restrain trade, destroy competition and monopolize world markets for personal computer operating systems and word processing and spreadsheet software in violation of California laws.
"This is a company whose business conduct would make the robber barons of the Gilded Age blanch," said Herrera, adding California taxpayers "have been victimized by Microsoft's misconduct."
Herrera said California government agencies were included in a 1999 class action suit against Microsoft but court approval in July of a final settlement excluded government entities.
The other plaintiffs in the suit were the city of Los Angeles and Santa Clara, San Mateo and Los Angeles counties.