The Decision is in, Microsoft Loses Big Time

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Microsoft Loses Big

by Declan McCullagh

1:15 p.m. Apr. 3, 2000 PDT The judge presiding over the Microsoft trial has ruled against the company in a far-ranging decision that will reshape the computer industry, sources said.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson gave a copy of his ruling to both sides on Monday -- before he was scheduled to release it to the public at 5 p.m. EDT -- and Microsoft provided details to its allies during a 3:30 p.m. conference call.

A Microsoft (MSFT) lawyer outlined the company's appeal strategy, telling call participants that its defeat included "no mysteries here -- it's what we all expected."

In the next few months Jackson will announce what penalties he will impose on Microsoft. But Microsoft's loss during this key round likely will embolden competitors and foreshadow a new wave of private antitrust suits that promise to distract the company's management for years to come.

Microsoft said it expected Congress, particularly the Senate Judiciary Committee, to "take an interest in the decision."

Participants in the phone call included more than a dozen conservative groups and think tanks. Microsoft complained that "this case was rushed to trial in four months" and that the findings of fact released last year did not support the Department of Justice's claim that Microsoft had misused a monopoly.

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,35378,00.html

-- Jen Bunker (jen@bunkergroup.com), April 03, 2000


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