Microsoft Antitrust Case to be First Heard in U.S. Court of Appeal

by John Virata
jvirata@Digitalmedianet.com

SANTA ANA-DMN --(Sept. 26, 2000)-- The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear the Microsoft antitrust case that could conceivably break the world's largest software company into two separate companies. The justices on the Supreme Court said that the U.S. Court of Appeal first hear the case in which Microsoft Corp. is accused of using illegal anticompetitive tactics to maintain its market dominance.

Microsoft requested to the justices that the case be sent to the appeals court. The justices agreed. The Department of Justice, in what many viewed as an effort to speed the resolution of the trial, wanted the Supreme Court to bypass the appeals court and immediately hear arguments over whether the company should be broken in two.

Microsoft hopes to overturn U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's ruling that the company engaged in anticompetitive behavior. In June, Judge Jackson ordered the company be split into two companies, one which focused on operating systems and one which focused on applications. He postponed his order to break the company up while Microsoft appealed.


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