Microsoft contests grounds of class-action status in “Vista-capable” lawsuit
By Triston McIntyre
Just when everyone thought that Microsoft’s goose was near to fully cooked in all its greasy goodness, it seems as though the goose is getting some breathing room; though mounds of incriminating evidence against Microsoft in the “Vista-capable” lawsuit has been piling up in rapid fashion, the well-paid lawyers at Microsoft have found a loophole and earned a bit of time to either rally a defense or order a tombstone epitaph.
Just as any good defense lawyer knows, a good way to defend anyone (or any large monopoly, in this case) is to search for flaws in all the seemingly insignificant aspects of a case. According to ArsTechnica, Microsoft’s lawyers have done so in impressive fashion.
Because the “Vista-capable” case was granted class-action status in the state of Washington, Microsoft has pointed out that the court needs to take more time to establish whether Washington has the proper jurisdiction for deciding the outcome of such a case; additionally, one of the plaintiffs isn’t even from the state of Washington, which further muddies the validity of class-action status granted in Washington.
The judge ruled in favor of Microsoft’s argument, and has suspended hearings until the propriety of the class-action status can be resolved.
What is particularly interesting about this defense is that it could have huge ramifications for the costs Microsoft ends up with; if the case loses class-action status in Washington, then only the two plaintiffs will be bringing the case. That means the entire debacle could cost Microsoft substantially less than expected, or at least until someone else files a class-action lawsuit.
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