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The technology company will make $70 million in vouchers available to several municipal governments in California that complained of being overcharged by Microsoft.

State and local governments, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, will be able to use those vouchers for cash refunds on hardware and software, the Mercury News reported.

Microsoft denied overcharging any of the plaintiffs, and will settle without admitting guilt in the case. The suit began in August 2004 when the two cities mentioned and the counties of Los Angeles, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, and San Mateo headed to court.

Those litigants represented thousands of agencies within the various governments. After filing suit in San Francisco, the case moved to Baltimore, where a judge currently overseeing other actions against Microsoft will need to give his approval to the settlement before it can be completed.

"We value our relationship with these cities and counties and are pleased to reach a settlement that allows us all to focus on the future," said Tom Burt, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel for Microsoft, said in a statement.

The $70 million will pose no real difficulty financially for Microsoft. Today the company formally announced two acquisitions, in-game advertising firm Massive Inc, and Vexcel Corp, a company involved with photogrammetry, imagery and remote sensing technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed for either deal.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.