Monday, Jan. 13, 2003 | 9:51 a.m.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Microsoft has reached a $1.1 billion settlement with consumers in California who accused the software giant of violating the state's antitrust and unfair competition laws.
Under the agreement announced Friday night, proceeds of the settlement will be distributed in the form of vouchers redeemable for computers and software products.
The settlement stems from a class-action lawsuit filed in 1999 on behalf of California consumers and businesses who bought Microsoft's operating system, productivity suite, spreadsheet or word processing software between February 1995 and December 2001.
Lawyers for both sides said the deal, which must be approved by a judge, could benefit more than 13 million consumers and 3 million children in 4,700 schools.
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