BBC Microsoft loses appeal on bundling In a blow to Microsoft's hopes of delaying anti-trust proceedings, a US appeals court has denied the firm's application for a review of a ruling on its web browser software.

The company filed the request two weeks ago, seeking to clarify whether the company illegally bundled code for web browsing software with that of its dominant Windows operating system.

In June, the appeals court had decided that Microsoft illegally bundled the software code for its Internet Explorer browser with Windows in an attempt to stunt competition.

The issue - known as "commingling" - is one of the central planks of the huge and lengthy anti-trust case against Microsoft being pursued by the US Justice Department.

The case goes on

Thursday's decision has serious implications for Microsoft.

It clears the way for a speedy court review on whether the firm should be broken up.

In its June decision, the appeals court set aside a ruling from Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who had ordered the break-up of the firm, arguing that the judge had appeared not to be impartial.

Crucially, however, it did not contest the original view that Microsoft was a monopoly; instead, it merely criticised the judge's style.

It ordered that a decision on how the firm was to be punished should be taken again in a lower court - a process that could have been substantially delayed by a prolonged review of the commingling issue.

But in a key detail of the ruling, the appeals judges simultaneously denied the Justice Department's request to speed up the case.

Their decision prevents the lower court from beginning the case until the middle of August.

As things stand, Microsoft's only option for averting the proceedings is to appeal against Thursday's decision to the US Supreme Court.

-- Anonymous, August 02, 2001