Last-Minute Talks Yield Little in Microsoft Case
Settlement talks between the government and Microsoft Corp. remained at a standstill Sunday as some negotiators assembled in Chicago over the weekend in case of a last-minute breakthrough in the antitrust case.
But their voyage was seen as little more than a good-faith effort to keep the lines of communication open in the landmark antitrust case, whose outcome is expected to have significant effect on the booming technology industry.
The U.S. Justice Department polled the District of Columbia and the 19 states over whether they would ask presiding U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson for more time to settle their litigation against the world’s most powerful software maker. However, there was no indication Sunday that they would.
Joel Klein, head of the U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust division, was said to be in Washington and industry observers speculated that even if the parties had moved closer to a deal, it would take several days to iron out the language of any formal settlement accord.
“I have seen no evidence of any movement,” said an industry executive who has closely followed the antitrust case.
Judge Jackson told Microsoft and government negotiators last week that if they didn’t make progress in settling their antitrust dispute, he would issue a verdict Tuesday concerning whether Microsoft violated the federal Sherman Antitrust Act.
In November, Jackson issued 207 pages of scathing findings that generally accepted the government’s allegations and concluded that Microsoft has used its software dominance to crush rivals and extend its power into emerging technology markets for Internet software.
Most observers expect the jurist to find that Microsoft has violated some provisions of federal antitrust law.
It is unclear how such a ruling might increase Microsoft’s vulnerability to costly private antitrust lawsuits, which many legal analysts expect consumers and industry rivals to file against Microsoft in the event of an adverse ruling. That’s because Jackson’s next ruling technically will not represent the final verdict in the case, only his conclusions concerning whether Microsoft broke any antitrust laws.
But some legal experts have expressed surprise at the legal brinkmanship in Microsoft’s dispute with the government. In other litigation, they say, the software giant has been deeply concerned about avoiding adverse findings.
For instance, after settling a contract dispute case with rival software maker Caldera Inc. of Provo, Utah, for a reported $165 million in January, Microsoft recently went to federal court in Salt Lake City to argue that documents from the Caldera settlement should not be available to class-action lawyers seeking monetary damages against the software giant.
An adverse verdict against Microsoft in its current antitrust case would lead to a remedies proceeding this spring, after which Jackson could impose severe sanctions on Microsoft, including a breakup of the company before the start of summer.
