Net Access Lawsuit Expected Against Microsoft

A lawsuit claiming Microsoft Corp. overloaded its Internet access service by signing up hundreds of thousands of new customers without properly upgrading the system will be filed next week, said a lawyer representing a subscriber. The suit, which lawyer Mitchell Wexler said will be filed in federal court in Chicago, will claim customers spent hours trying to log on to the Microsoft Network Internet system only to get repeated busy signals. The suit will seek class-action status and will claim breach of contract and negligence, Wexler said. The lawsuit will ask the company to upgrade its network.

Representatives for Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft declined to comment.

Microsoft had advertised that customers who signed up for three years of MSN Internet service would receive a $400 rebate for purchases of merchandise at stores such as Office Depot Inc. and Best Buy Co. Customers must “make many, many phone calls before [they] can get in,” Wexler said. Microsoft “should have anticipated this. You’re lucky if you can get in at all.”

Separately, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, and his wife Melinda donated $5 billion to their namesake foundation, making it the world’s biggest charity with about $21.8 billion. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has surpassed London’s Wellcome Trust, which was No. 1 with $21.4 billion in assets, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. It surpassed the $13.1-billion Ford Foundation as the largest U.S. charity when Gates donated $6 billion to it in August, the newspaper about nonprofit groups said.

Microsoft shares fell $2.50 to close $101.25 on Nasdaq.