Judge rules on Microsoft case, backs DOJ settlement

Computerworld - WASHINGTON -- U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly came down today in favor of Microsoft Corp. and the U.S.-backed antitrust settlement, rejecting a series of remedies that would have forced the company to unbundle Windows.

The judge ruled in favor of the government, calling the settlement in the public interest -- a finding she had to make under law before accepting it.

Last year's settlement "adopts a clear and consistent philosophy such that the provisions form a tightly woven fabric," the judge said in her decision.

The U.S. Court of Appeals last year upheld a finding that Microsoft illegally maintained its monopoly in operating systems.

Kollar-Kotelly had a range of options before her. The minimum Microsoft faced was the U.S.-brokered settlement reached last fall by the Bush administration and nine of the 18 states. That was the baseline.

The judge did not have the flexibility to change that settlement -- she could only accept or reject it. And that's what she did. But Kollar-Kotelly could have chosen from among the nonsettling states' alternatives and placed additional restrictions and requirements on the company beyond what the settlement envisioned.

The U.S.-backed agreement requires Microsoft to treat PC makers fairly, set uniform terms and share the interfaces and protocols that competing vendors need to develop Windows applications.

In her ruling, the judge rejected a series of tougher sanctions, including remedies that would have forced Microsoft to port its Office suite to rival operating systems and make its Internet Explorer browser open source.

The company said in a statement that it is "pleased."

"The settlement is a tough, but fair, compromise," the statement said. "It imposes significant requirements on Microsoft, but it enables us to continue to innovate.... We recognize that we will be closely scrutinized by the government and our competitors, and we will devote all the time, energy and resources needed to ensure that we meet our responsibilities."

"It appears to be an unqualified, resounding victory for Microsoft," said Hillard Sterling, an antitrust attorney at Much Shelist PC in Chicago. "It seems that she almost rubber-stamped the proposed settlement."

Kollar-Kotelly made relatively minor modifications to the agreement, and that has left the nonsettling states in a difficult spot, said Sterling.

"An appeal is almost a fruitless effort," said Sterling. "Appellate courts almost uniformly affirm these types of remedy decisions. This decision is virtually bulletproof."

Legal experts were still reviewing the judge's multipart decision tonight, but pundits such as Robert Lande, an antitrust professor at the University of Baltimore, said they were having