Oct 20 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp used its monopoly
position in computer operating systems to block the PC-sharing
business of MiniFrame Ltd, according to a lawsuit filed by the
small Israeli technology company.
The world's largest software company, which supplies the
operating systems on 90 percent of the world's PCs, unfairly
changed its licensing agreements and bullied MiniFrame's
potential customers to prevent it from winning valuable
contracts, the Israeli company said.
MiniFrame's SoftXpand software lets multiple users access
the same PC operating system from multiple locations, using
only a monitor, keyboard and mouse. The company said that does
not violate Microsoft's original user agreements, which
prohibit only multiple PCs accessing the same system.
The Israeli company claims pressure from Microsoft forced
Hewlett Packard Co, JPMorgan Chase & Co and other large
companies to drop plans to buy MiniFrame's products, costing it
billions of dollars in sales.
In the lawsuit, filed in New York federal court late on
Wednesday, MiniFrame is demanding more than $1 billion in
damages.
Microsoft, which only this year concluded monitoring by the
U.S. government following a settlement of antitrust charges in
2001, did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.
The case is MiniFrame Ltd v Microsoft Corporation, U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New York, No.
11-7419.
For the plaintiffs: Robert Morris and Timothy Helwick of
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel.
For Microsoft: Not yet available.
(Reporting by Bill Rigby)
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