By silicon.com, 23 March 2004 17:30
NEWS 23.03.99: The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has stated that it is willing to enter into out of court negotiations with Microsoft in an attempt to settle the long running antitrust dispute.
Joel Klein, assistant attorney general, said the DoJ remains open to a settlement, as long as it "fully protects consumers and assures that similar anti-trust violations do not occur in the future".
However, he has so far denied receiving a settlement proposal from the Seattle giant.
23.03.04: Over the past five years the Microsoft antitrust case has grown into one of the most protracted, complicated - and dare we say tiresome - legal cases of all time.
Every time there was a suggestion of resolution there were inevitably more twists to come. And any suggested resolution was naturally met with threats of appeal, retrial and further legal wrangling.
Individual cases involving individual companies or states further added to the muddying of waters and the sense of confusion surrounding the case.
And it wasn't just in the US that this issue became so perplexing. In Europe the EU was conducting its own investigation into Microsoft's anti-competitive practices.
However, tomorrow we expect a decision in that case.
But, of course, whatever punishment is meted out Microsoft will appeal.
It ain't over until the fat lady sings - and many critics suggest she'll only sing when Microsoft says she can sing.
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