Microsoft Settlement - Update

Below is the latest official update from UCOP
about the Microsoft Settlement. Here are the
essential points:

1. Since "governmental entities" are
specifically excluded from the settlement, the
question is whether UC falls in that category.
UC's Office of General Counsel believes that the
settlement language is unclear on this point.

2. As a test of UC's eligibility, the IR&C
department at UCOP has submitted a claim. If the
claim is accepted, UC will then decide what to do
about a UC claim process. No response on the
test claim is expected before January. Since the
deadline for all claims is 3/15/04, this will
mean a tight window for organizing a UC claims
process, if that should be what happens.

3. Claims can be made for volume licenses and
for retail versions of the products. Because the
volume license data has always been tracked by
Microsoft, these claims do not require additional
proof and therefore are easier to prepare.
Claims about retail versions will require that
purchase documentation be provided.

4. If departments want to be prepared in case UC
turns out to be eligible, they could proceed to
gather their proofs of purchase from their files.
This effort will be wasted, of course, if UC
proves to be ineligible.

Please send any questions you may have directly
to me. I will send answers to the various email
lists.

--Bob Callaway

===================
STATUS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA’S
PARTICIPATION IN THE MICROSOFT SETTLEMENT
(Revised 11/12/03)

Background
In 1999, Townsend and Townsend and Crew filed a
suit on behalf of four plaintiffs alleging that
Microsoft had violated the State of California's
antitrust and unfair competition laws by
restraining trade and monopolizing the market for
operating system and certain applications
software. The suit further alleged that Microsoft
had overcharged California software consumers. In
2000, the San Francisco Superior Court certified
the case as a class action and scheduled the
trial for February 24, 2003. On January 10th, the
attorneys, plaintiffs, and Microsoft agreed to a
settlement, which will provide up to $1.1 billion
in monetary benefits to the class. California
consumers and businesses who purchased Windows,
MS-DOS, Office, Excel, Word, Works Suite and Home
Essentials 97 or 98 between February 1995 and
December 2001 now have until March 15, 2004 to
file claims. Successful claimants will receive
vouchers in amounts ranging from $5.00 to $29.00
toward the purchase of the above products. More
information about the settlement is available at
http://www.townsend.com/media/microsoft.html.

Can The University of California Participate in the Settlement?
Class action suits like this one include a Class
Certification, which defines the class members.
The Class Certification for this suit
specifically excludes "governmental entities,"
and IR&C staff was initially told by Gene Crew of
Townsend and Townsend and Crew that the
University could not, therefore, participate in
the settlement. IR&C staff then consulted with
the Office of General Counsel (OGC) to determine
whether the University is, in fact, a
"governmental entity." OGC felt that the
definition of "governmental entity" was unclear
and suggested IR&C file a claim for purchases
made under our Microsoft Select and Microsoft
Open volume purchase programs as a test case.

University of California Claims Process
IR&C filed a claim for volume license program
purchases on October 30th. This claim was easily
filed because Microsoft had already provided all
purchase data on its volume license programs to
the claims administrator, and no purchase
documentation had to be included.

Next Steps
The claims administrator has informed IR&C that
no claim information will be available until
January. If the claim is denied, the University
will have to consider the next steps. If the
claim is accepted, the University will consider
filing a claim for purchases made outside the
University's volume license programs. Filing
this claim would require that documentation such
as purchase orders or invoices be provided. If
the University decides to file this claim, UCOP
will establish a procedure for collecting the
required documentation. Although many University
staff members have received email notes urging
them to file claims, no individual claims for
purchases made with University funds should be
filed. As is indicated above, IR&C is handling
the process for the entire University.
===================

-- 
-
______________________________________
Bob Callaway               
Manager, Strategic Vendor Relations
Information Systems and Technology
295 Evans Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-3812
Voice:  (510) 643-8262      
Fax:  (510) 643-5385         
Email:  callaway@socrates.berkeley.edu
______________________________________
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