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Four years on, Microsoft case far from over
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Posted by: Tweaker
WASHINGTON--Saturday marked the four-year anniversary of Microsoft's antitrust case, which, legal experts say, could still go on for quite some time to come.
And the longer the case drags on, they say, the more likely it is that Microsoft would escape largely unscathed from its legal tangle with federal and state trustbusters. Many of the company's court-affirmed violations occurred at least five years ago. With appeals, the process now under way could stretch on for two more years or longer, which could make any remedy essentially meaningless.
At some point, Microsoft could argue that the fast-changing technology sector has moved beyond the scope of the original case brought by the Justice Department," said Andy Gavil, an antitrust professor with Howard University's School of Law.
During the four years since, two states dropped out of the case, a federal judge ordered a breakup of Microsoft, an appeals court threw out that order, a new judge took responsibility for the case, and the majority of original plaintiffs settled with the software giant. Yet even with the findings of two courts--in April 2000 and June 2001--that the software giant violated the Sherman Antitrust Act, no remedy has been put into effect to rein in Microsoft's monopoly power.
During three days in court last month, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates testified that the company is "committed to complying fully with court orders, including any remedy that might be ordered in this case. We can do that only if the remedy is clear as written and its terms feasible."
The judge needs to ask Microsoft if the terms are "clear as written and its terms feasible" when judgment ordered as Microsofts aid they couldn’t follow them otherwise? That’s what I read of this, and not sure what "terms feasible" has to do with it!
More on this story here
Source: CNET News
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