Antitrust suits from Be, Sun move to Baltimore

IDG News Service - Two private antitrust lawsuits filed against Microsoft Corp. by its competitors have been transferred to a federal court in Baltimore under the same judge who is overseeing more than 100 private class-action antitrust lawsuits against the software maker.
The pretrial proceedings in the cases launched by Sun Microsystems Inc. and Be Inc. will be coordinated by Judge Frederick Motz of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, the companies confirmed yesterday. A third private antitrust suit, by Netscape Communications Corp., is also expected to be moved to Motz's court, according to sources familiar with the case. Netscape, a subsidiary of AOL Time Warner Inc., couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.
Microsoft didn't return calls seeking comment.
The lawsuits against Microsoft by Sun and Be were transferred to Motz's court at the request of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, a body charged with streamlining related cases filed in multiple districts, according to Sun and Be.
"Microsoft made a motion to the court to have it joined with other cases," said Dan Johnston, president of Be, in Mountain View, Calif.
Sun sued Microsoft over claims that the software maker used anticompetitive practices to block the distribution of its Java technology. Be, a former operating system maker, claimed that its downfall was the result of Microsoft's anticompetitive maneuvers in the market for desktop operating systems.
A pretrial conference in each case is scheduled for Aug. 27 in Baltimore, according to Johnston and a Sun spokeswoman.
"The significance is that they'll be litigating in one forum, with one judge, and with less risk of inconsistent proceedings and rulings," said Emmett Stanton, an attorney at the law firm Fenwick & West LLP in Palo Alto, Calif., who has closely followed Microsoft's antitrust case. "It works to Microsoft's advantage to be in one place rather than three."
Motz has been overseeing more than 100 private class-action antitrust lawsuits against Microsoft that were consolidated under his jurisdiction. Microsoft attempted to reach a settlement in that consolidated case, agreeing to contribute $1 billion in hardware, software and technical support to U.S. schools in exchange for ending the lawsuits. In January, Motz turned down that settlement offer (see story).
Be and Sun filed their cases in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Be's case was assigned to a judge in Oakland, while Sun's was assigned to a judge in San Jose. Netscape filed its lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington.

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