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

To: RocketMan who wrote (39898)	3/26/2000 6:17:00 PM
From: Cyrus Mashhoodi	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 74651

This is a good news on settlement case, Microsoft, U.S. Lawyers Headed to Chicago for Settlement Talks By James Rowley Microsoft, U.S. Lawyers Headed to Chicago for Settlement Talks Washington, March 24 (Bloomberg) -- Top Microsoft Corp. and government lawyers are converging on Chicago for talks that could begin as early as this afternoon to try to settle the government's landmark antitrust suit against the No. 1 software maker, people familiar with the discussions said. Joel Klein, the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust chief, is expected to attend sessions, overseen by a federal appellate judge recruited to try to mediate a settlement, one person said. The long-stymied talks were reinvigorated last week when Microsoft showed a willingness to accept curbs on its business practices as an alternative to break-up proposals advanced by the Justice Department and 19 states that sued the software giant. There was no immediate comment from the Justice Department today and Microsoft officials could not be reached. The company has circulated a draft proposal of so-called ``conduct remedies' that it has indicated it would agree to, said people familiar with talks. A settlement would head off an expected ruling by the trial judge, Thomas Penfield Jackson, that Microsoft broke antitrust laws to protect its monopoly over personal computer operating software. Chicago-based federal appeals court Judge Richard Posner has held separate meetings with lawyers for both the company and the government. Except for an initial introductory meeting with Posner late last year, both sides have not met in the same room. The pace of the settlement discussions quickened in the last 10 days with exchanges of phone calls, e-mails and documents through Posner, chief judge of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, people said. Shares of Microsoft, which rose 8 5/8 or 8.4 percent yesterday on news of renewed settlement prospects, fell 1/2 to 111 3/8 in morning trading. Jackson's Findings Jackson, who has found that Microsoft had a monopoly for its Windows operating system and repeatedly thwarted competitive challenges to its market domination, met privately with lawyers for both sides on Tuesday. Lawyers for both sides left the meeting with the impression they had only a limited time to reach a settlement before Jackson issues his final ruling in the case. The judge, whose harshly worded description of Microsoft's business practices left little doubt among experts he would rule against the company, heard final legal arguments Feb. 22. A decision that Microsoft broke antitrust laws would give plaintiffs lawyers ammunition to press more than 100 private antitrust suits already filed against the company. Such a ruling would mean customers and competitors seeking triple damages from Microsoft would not have to prove that the company was guilty of illegal monopolization to press their cases. Microsoft's defense, for the most part, would be limited to claiming its business practices didn't damage particular plaintiffs. The prospect of defending those suits may be a powerful motivation for Microsoft to seek a settlement. The government would be motivated to settle to avoid lengthy delays from an appeal of Jackson's verdict. At a minimum, the appeal would put off the implementation of any remedies imposed by the judge. The government also risks losing the case before an appeals court that has previously ruled against the it in an earlier Microsoft case. That ruling, involving a 1994 consent decree with Microsoft, will motivate government lawyers now negotiating a potential settlement to seek a crystal-clear statement of how the software giant would change its business practices to avoid antitrust problems.