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

To: Ibexx who wrote (4956)	2/3/1998 12:02:00 AM
From: Ibexx	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Thread, As I indicated earlier... Appellate court hands Microsoft a victory (Recasts, adds comment by government) By David Lawsky WASHINGTON, Feb 2, (Reuters) - An appeals court handed Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O a swift and significant victory on Monday, stopping a Harvard law professor or anyone else from serving as a special adviser to a U.S. District Court judge hearing the Justice Department case against the software giant. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted Microsoft's Jan. 16 motion to halt the work of Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig as "special master" in the case. Its one-page ruling was handed down only one business day after Microsoft filed its last papers on the matter. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson chose Lessig in December as a special adviser to collect evidence and take testimony on the Justice Department's charges that Microsoft used unfair and illegal means to compete with Netscape Communications Corp. NSCP.O, a rival in the market for Internet software. Lessig was to have reported back to Judge Jackson by May 31. But the appellate court ordered the Lessig matter combined with another Microsoft appeal and will not hear oral arguments on both matters until April 21. In the meantime Jackson may supervise the gathering of evidence, but without help. Jackson had referred the case out because the judge is not an expert on computers, while Lessig has a reputation for knowledge of software. Microsoft welcomed the ruling and said it looked forward to presenting its case in the appeals court and the trial court. "We're pleased with this decision. We view this as a very positive step, but it's only one step in the whole process," Microsoft spokesman Tom Pilla told Reuters. "We believe that this case is critical to consumers and the future health of the U.S. software industry." Justice Department spokesman Michael Gordon said, "We'll comply with this order and continue to move forward with our case on behalf of consumers and computer vendors." Jackson is considering Justice Department charges that Microsoft violated a 1995 consent decree that was supposed to help foster competition in the software industry. Jackson must decide whether the government is right when it says that Microsoft may not tie the sale of its Windows software to its Web browser, or whether the company is right to say that the two may be integrated. Jackson last month rejected a motion by Microsoft to remove Lessig from the case, calling its charges against the Harvard professor "defamatory." Microsoft argued to the appeals court that there should be no special master at all. In particular, it said it objected to Lessig. In its appeal, Microsoft raised allegations of impropriety, in part because it said Lessig had sent to an employee of=Netscape an electronic mail message that "compares installing a Microsoft product on his computer to selling his 'soul.'" It also said Judge Jackson improperly delegated his authority to collect evidence to a private citizen. Microsoft wrote a long letter to Lessig asking that he recuse himself from the case, which Lessig rejected. The Justice Department last week told the appellate court that Microsoft's appeal lacked merit and that the company would not suffer permanent harm. REUTERS Rtr 23:17 02-02-98 Ibexx Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service