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.

Strategies & Market Trends : The Options Box -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: hobo who wrote (9716)	2/26/2001 1:26:57 AM
From: hobo	Respond to of 10876

Focus on MSFT this week __________________________________ Microsoft appeal looks at judge By Peter Spiegel in Washington Published: February 25 2001 21:19GMT \| Last Updated: February 26 2001 05:49GMT When Microsoft and the Justice Department got together earlier this month to decide on a schedule for oral arguments in the company's appeal, they came up with four topics to discuss, all relating to Microsoft's behaviour in the software industry and how to rein the company in, if at all. But when the seven-judge panel that will hear the case on Monday and on Tuesday announced its two-day schedule, it threw in a fifth area to debate: "Conduct of trial and extrajudicial statements". Almost certain to be the most discussed figure in this second round is District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson. To be sure, most of the seven hours that have been scheduled for oral arguments over the next two days will focus on familiar ground covered in the trial phase of the case. On Monday, for instance, 2½ hours will be devoted to the crucial topic of "monopoly maintenance" - whether Microsoft's efforts to keep its place in operating systems market was merely tough business practice, or crossed the line into illegal behaviour. The judges felt the topic was so important that they added an extra half-hour of argument time. But Judge Jackson's sometimes peculiar behaviour has led legal scholars to believe it is potentially the most vulnerable part of the government's case. Mr Jackson's most controversial action during the trial was a decision to hold only cursory hearings on what remedy should apply after he found the company guilty of being an illegal monopoly. Lawyers on both sides had prepared themselves for weeks - even months - of debate over whether a break-up was necessary. Instead, Mr Jackson dismissed the lawyers after only a day and ordered a break-up - the most severe solution available - just two weeks later. Microsoft argued: "There is . . . no precedent for the district court's refusal to take evidence on relief." In an interview published after the trial, Judge Jackson retorted: "Were the Japanese allowed to propose terms of their surrender?" That interview, and others like it to several news organisations - including the Financial Times - have themselves become an issue in the appeal. Microsoft contends that the interviews and a handful of speeches Judge Jackson has given are a violation of judicial ethics and sufficient to have the the case returned to a different trial judge. By putting the "extrajudicial statements" on the schedule for Monday's hearings, the appellate panel has clearly not dismissed the motion out of hand. It is an argument that should provide some fireworks and awkwardness over the next two days. In one interview, Judge Jackson said of William Neukom, Microsoft general counsel: "I don't think he's very smart, or at least I don't think he has any subtlety." Prosecutors are already facing an uphill battle: the seven-judge panel includes two who have ruled in Microsoft's favour in a previous case and two more who are strong conservatives known to be sceptical of aggressive antitrust enforcement. Even though they won round one, attention on Judge Jackson can only mean an even tougher road ahead for the Justice Department. markets.ft.com a chart of MSFT (Candlesticks) stockcharts.com[l,a]declyymy[pb50!b200][vc60][iUb14!La12,26,9!Ll14] X/O (Black Magic): stockcharts.com