John, the judge was overturned on a pre-trial motion for an injunction, if I recall correctly. That is different from being overturned on the issue of trial facts. Depending on what his decision on the law is, he might be reversed, but if that happens, it will be most likely on his interpretation of the law, NOT the facts. And again, this is a conservative judge, appointed by Reagan.
One other point. The entire first part of his finding of facts deals with the issue of whether MSFT controls at least 80 percent of the market for its system software. That is a very important threshold, as it marks the difference between behavior that is LEGAL below that threshold and ILLEGAL above it. That's how the law reads. It makes no difference that other companies may engage in similar behavior. The key is whether a company dominates the market to the point of having more than 80 percent of the business. When that point occurs, the behavior attested to by the documents brought before the court confirms that the company engaged in monopolistic behavior. Of course, we don't know what the judge's decision will be. But his conclusions, drawn on the facts presented at trial, will be hard to challenge. And I think Microsoft knows it. |
