Judge urges quick settlement in Microsoft antitrust case

Kollar-Kotelly is optimistic that, provided the two parties act reasonably and in good faith, they will be able to reach an agreement before 2nd November and ordered that they “make all efforts, seven days a week around the clock” in order to do so. It was implied that a quick settlement would liberate the millions of dollars in costs of a long-running case to be better spent in rebuilding the damaged US economy.

The two sides are free to negotiate an agreement independently until 12th October at which point, in the absence of settlement, the judge will appoint a mediator to oversee talks. Previously, both parties have been reluctant to enter mandatory mediation but a similar process came close to a successful conclusion before falling apart in April 2000.

If no settlement proposals are reached by 2nd November then hearings to decide on Microsoft’s fate commence on 11th March 2002.

Microsoft had asked the new judge to narrow the scope of penalties sought by the government in light of the decision of the court of appeal in June. The court found Microsoft guilty of abusing its monopoly position by illegally shielding Windows from competition, but threw out an order to break the company up and dismissed one of the other charges in the case.

However, Judge Kollar-Kotelly underlined that Supreme Court authority allowed her to consider any punishments including those that might not be directly tied to the violations Microsoft was found guilty of. It is within her power to deal with both past antitrust violations and potential ones in order to restore competition and prevent future illegality.

In the absence of settlement therefore, the consequences for Microsoft could be far-reaching and as Kollar-Kotelly pointed out, the first allegations of anti-competitive conduct by Microsoft go back as far as six years and “the various related cases have spanned an eternity in the computer industry.”