By Sarah Left, 5 April 2000 09:45
NEWS Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson may undercut Microsoft's appeal strategy by sending the case straight to the Supreme Court. Under the Anti-trust Expediting Act, Judge Jackson can skip over the appellate court in the interest of having the case resolved quickly. If the Supreme Court declines to hear the case - as it did with the AT&T anti-trust suit - then Judge Jackson's ruling becomes the final judgement. Yesterday, Bill Gates hinted that his company would receive a more sympathetic hearing in the Court of Appeals. That court overruled Judge Jackson towards the beginning of the case, when he ordered Microsoft to unbundle its Internet Explorer browser from the Windows operating system. Gates said in a press statement yesterday: "We believe we have a strong case on appeal. The Appeals Court has already affirmed Microsoft's right to build Internet capabilities into the Windows operating system to benefit consumers." Judge Jackson has also said he would like to hand down a remedy within 60 days, although Microsoft's lawyers are opposed to this. Any remedy that involves breaking up Microsoft will almost certainly be put on hold until the appeals process is complete. More to follow...
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