Microsoft Corp., the world's largest software maker, won a bid to splinter a group lawsuit accusing the company of misleading buyers about which computers could fully run its Vista operating system, inflating their prices, Bloomberg reported.
While Microsoft no longer faces a nationwide class-action suit, U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman in Seattle today denied the company's request to resolve the case in its favor.
"This ruling makes no comment on the merits or veracity" of the remaining individual claims, Pechman said in her ruling that reduced the number of plaintiffs in the case to six. Lawyers had estimated more than 10,000 consumers may have been included in the case if it had proceeded as a class action, or group lawsuit. A trial in the case is scheduled for April 13.
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, was sued in 2007 on claims it allowed manufacturers and retailers to label personal computers as "Vista capable" even though they could only run the most basic version of the operating system and not a premium version that had better graphics.
The case is Kelley v. Microsoft Corp., 07cv475, U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington (Seattle).
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