Microsoft to Settle Lawsuit by Small Software Maker

Microsoft Corp. will pay tiny software maker Bristol Technology Inc. an undisclosed amount to settle years of legal wrangling over Bristol’s claim that Microsoft was trying to crush competition, the two companies said. Microsoft previously had been ordered to pay Bristol $1 million for unfair trade practices and $3.7 million to cover Bristol’s legal fees. Bristol sued the software giant in 1998, claiming it was trying to crush competition by preventing access to its source code, or software blueprint, for Windows NT. Bristol, based in Danbury, Conn., makes a software product called Wind/U that enables programs written specifically for Windows to be converted to run on computers with different operating systems, such as Unix. Shares of Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft rose 38 cents to close at $56.25 on Nasdaq.