The software maker has been taken to court over a practice dating back to 2006, the year before releasing Vista on the market. Microsoft was accused of labeling a significant number of PCs as ‘Vista Capable’, even though they were only able to operate Windows Home Basic, failing to run some core Vista features, such as the Aero interface.

 

Microsoft continued to maintain its argument that the Vista Capable campaign clearly stated the differences between the four types of Vista released (Basic, Premium, Business, and Ultimate).

 

The plaintiffs claimed that consumers purchasing Vista Capable PCs have been deceived into buying computers only capable of running a basic Vista operating system, which they said was not a true Vista.

 

But the judge considered otherwise: Plaintiffs’ evidence fails to establish class-wide causation because it does not attempt to identify a specific shift in the demand for Vista Capable PCs. However, it did not grant Microsoft’s request for summary judgment, meaning that Microsoft is free of class-wide causation, but not of individual claims.

 

The court also found that the plaintiffs could not pursue a class-wide unjust enrichment claim, since they could not demonstrate that class-wide issues predominate in this case.

 

Microsoft said in a statement is it pleased with the court’s dismissal of the class-action lawsuit, and that it is looking forward to presenting its case in the remaining individual claims.