Justice Department Is Said to Be Unimpressed With Microsoft Offer
An INTERACTIVE JOURNAL News Roundup
WASHINGTON -- Skeptical government lawyers consider an 11th-hour offer from the Microsoft Corp. to settle its antitrust trial so inadequate in important areas that there were no immediate plans to resume negotiations in Chicago, people close to the case said Saturday.
These sources did not rule out the possibility of talks resuming, and the government continued to evaluate the proposal by Microsoft to end the case before Tuesday, when the trial judge has threatened to announce his verdict.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who has hinted he will rule strongly against Microsoft, has told lawyers in a private meeting that he will deliver his ruling that day unless there is progress in settlement talks being organized by U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Posner in Chicago.
The government on Saturday again reviewed Microsoft's latest offer, which published reports said included promises to separate the company's Internet-browser software from its dominant Windows operating system. But there was no indication whether doing so would satisfy government negotiators now that Internet Explorer has eclipsed Netscape's Navigator and become the market's dominant Web browser.
The proposal, faxed on Friday, was sufficiently complex that some of the Justice Department's top technical experts were evaluating it.
But there were new signs suggesting no deal would be struck successfully before Judge Jackson's deadline.
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Monopoly Power
The Justice Department has backed off proposals to break up Microsoft to restrain what the judge has characterized as the company's abuse of its monopoly power over the technology industry.
But it was expected to demand some limits on what features Microsoft can add to Windows, out of fear the company could overwhelm smaller rivals offering some fledgling technology that threatens Microsoft's lucrative flagship Windows software.
"If they're going to be hung up on anything, it will be that tying issue," Mr. Litan said. "If Justice is insisting on some sort of future judicial determination whether a new [Windows] product includes an unlawful tie, I can't see Microsoft going for that."
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Good article. It should be in Monday's Wall Street Journal.
And there's Bloomberg ...
Microsoft, U.S. Remain Far From Reaching Agreement, People Familiar Say
By James Rowley
bloomberg.com
Best of luck.
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