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Judge Dismisses Microsoft Antitrust Case
A federal judge has dismissed Go Computer Inc.'s antitrust case against Microsoft Corp.
In a ruling Thursday, U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz in Maryland granted Microsoft's request that the lawsuit be dismissed because the antitrust claims are barred by the four-year statute of limitations.
The lawsuit centered on allegations that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates set out in the early 1990s to discourage other companies from doing business with Go. The case was originally filed in federal court in California, but later moved to Maryland.
Go, which developed technology that helped computers understand handwriting, has similar claims pending in a California state court.
Jerry Kaplan founded Go and, in 2005, reacquired the rights to sue on Go's behalf.
A phone message left at Kaplan's office was not immediately returned Friday.
Microsoft has settled a number of antitrust lawsuits in recent years, making hefty payouts to rivals such as RealNetworks Inc. and Sun Microsystems Inc.
However, dealings between the European Union and Microsoft, which is appealing an antitrust ruling there, have turned ugly. And it still faces an antitrust complaint from Novell Inc.