Microsoft Judge Weighs Broader Sanctions

The federal judge overseeing the Microsoft Corp. antitrust case said Tuesday that she wants to know more about new computer technologies such as hand-held devices to determine whether sanctions against Microsoft should cover these items.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly’s request boosted the spirits of nine states seeking stronger antitrust sanctions against Microsoft, who have argued for remedies that protect markets that have arisen since the trial began.

The judge, who has expressed reservations about broadening the case, said she needed to learn more “to determine whether it falls beyond the outer reaches of a remedy.”

“I’ve decided that I need more factual information, frankly,” Kollar-Kotelly said during hearings on the remedies demanded by the states that have rejected a proposed settlement agreed to by the Justice Department in November.

Tom Greene, an attorney for the state of California, said the remarks signal Kollar-Kotelly may be willing to impose broader sanctions.

But Greene acknowledged that the states still have a “heavy burden” of proof in making the case for stricter sanctions.

The issue is important to the case because Kollar-Kotelly must decide whether the remedies should be designed to address only past misdeeds, or go further and try to restrain Microsoft’s forays into new areas.

Microsoft has argued the sanctions cannot go beyond specific wrongdoing upheld by a federal appeals court last year, mainly that Microsoft tried to crush Netscape’s Internet browser in an illegal effort to preserve its Windows monopoly in personal computer operating systems.

The company has filed legal motions asking the judge to discard all evidence that is not directly related to the monopoly market at issue in the original case--personal computer operating systems.

Kollar-Kotelly said Tuesday that she has made no final decision about how broad the scope of the remedy should be. And the judge said she will consider Microsoft’s objections.