The Web site, MSfreePC, was set up by Lindows to allow consumers to claim their portion of the US$1.1 billion settlement which ended a class-action lawsuit mid-last year. However, Microsoft took the site to court, claiming among other things the digital signatures used were not a valid means of identification, and late last week San Francisco judge Paul H. Alvarado ruled in favour of the software behemoth.
Alvarado ordered Rust Consulting inc, the court-appointed Settlement Claims Administrator, to reject all claims submitted through the MSfreePC Web site. Lindows was ordered to provide the names of claimants who had submitted claims through the Web site to Rust within 10 days, and Rust was ordered to send a letter to the claimants informing them their claim had been unsuccessful, and including a standard claim form.
Lindows claimed that "MSfreePC's Internet site was designed as a consumer offering to reduce the arduous, paper-heavy settlement process, and electronically serve the millions of people eligible for the settlement dollars".
"Judges and attorneys should be insistent that the 25 million consumers in California have access to an online claims process," said Michael Robertson, chief executive officer of Lindows.com Inc. "Microsoft's claim that digital signatures are valid when used to sell their software but not when it costs them money, is pure hypocrisy. Their true intentions are not to remedy their abusive pricing policies but simply to escape financial redress to Californians."
MSfreePC allowed claimants to use their rebate immediately to buy Lindows software instead of waiting months for the claim to be processed. There are an estimated 25 million people eligible for the refund.
Since it opened on September 15 2003 the MSfreePC Web site served around 15,000 claimants, according to Lindows, and handled an estimated million dollars worth of potential claims. The Web site has ceased to process claims, but anyone who has already used the service will be allowed to keep the software that was purchased.
The official Microsoft settlement Web site is: www.microsoftcalsettlement.com.
