Microsoft 'wins' antitrust case
A federal judge has rejected calls from nine US states for tougher sactions against Microsoft for anti-trust activities.
Link: Judge set to make Microsoft ruling
US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly approved the agreement Microsoft had made with the Department of Justice, but tightened it to reduce Microsoft’s control over the programs bundled with new Windows-based PCs.
In her ruling, Kollar-Kotelly agreed with nine states that server software is subject to the antitrust remedies, but denied their request to also apply the regulations to Microsoft’s mobile-device business.
The judge agreed with Microsoft that a stripped-down version of Windows would jeopardise the company.
In a statement Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said in an early reading of the ruling the company did not see ‘anything that would be cause for an appeal.’
Attorneys general for the states expressed satisfaction with the ruling, but did not rule out a possible appeal.
But according to the Seattle Times Microsoft’s competitors are furious.
An AOL Time Warner spokesman said in a statement that efforts to restrain Microsoft have produced results – but have not ended. AOL’s Netscape division will continue its separate lawsuit against Microsoft