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By Julian Goldsmith, 6 November 2001 11:50

NEWS The conclusion to the three-year long battle between the US Department of Justice and Microsoft looks even shakier today, as it is likely that some of the states taking legal action against the software giant will object to the current settlement. Eighteen states will come before district court judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly later today to announce their acceptance or opposition to the settlement hammered out by the US government and Microsoft late last week. According to the Wall Street Journal, at least six states are likely to appose the settlement. These include California, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia. The Washington Post cited sources close to the situation who claimed New York's attorney general had already struck a tentative deal of its own with Microsoft. Other states likely to follow suit are Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina, and Utah. The rest are still undecided. Those states who oppose the settlement criticised it as too soft considering Microsoft has been found to be illegally abusing its monopoly position. In a statement reacting to the settlement, Massachusetts attorney general Tom Reilly said: "The agreement reached by the US Department of Justice and Microsoft is fundamentally flawed. It has enormous loopholes and may prove to be more harmful than helpful to competition and to consumers. "We will show the utmost respect for the court and the process while at the same time conveying our problems with this agreement. "This company has a long and consistent pattern of violating the law and not playing by the rules. "The original goals of this suit were to restore competition and prevent a return of illegal and abusive conduct. This agreement is licence for Microsoft to use its dominance and power to crush its competition. We all lose if that happens."