Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J. P. who wrote (31334)	10/29/1999 10:23:00 AM
From: Michael Ulysses	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 74651

The stage could be set for a settlement. === yahoo.cnet.com As early as this afternoon, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson could issue his findings of fact in the ongoing antitrust battle between the U.S. Justice Department and Microsoft. Those findings, while not a ruling, could reveal the direction the judge is going and what conclusions of law he might reach. *They could also set the stage for settlement talks, which the judge has strongly advocated.* "The judge is trying to force settlement by bifurcating facts from law, which gives the parties another opportunity to start talking," said Bob Lande, a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law who specializes in antitrust. The judge, for example, could find some antitrust violations against Microsoft, but rule out ones that would eventually call for serious remedy. The government laid out essentially six theories for antitrust behavior by Microsoft, said antitrust experts. If Jackson favors some theories that benefit one side and some that benefit the other, they might consider settlement talks. "If the judge sets out findings that are adverse to one side or the other, but are not so compelling that either party feels absolutely certain they can knock it down or uphold it, then you obviously have a basis for compromise," said Sims. Many antitrust experts believe Jackson will use his findings to prod both sides to discuss a settlement. Typically, a judge would ask both sides to submit their conclusions of law before he or she rendered the findings of fact.