West Virginia joins Massachusetts in antitrust case appeal

IDG News Service - West Virginia will join Massachusetts in appealing the recent decision of U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in the government's antitrust case against Microsoft Corp., according to a Microsoft spokesman.
The deadline for filing an appeal to Kollar-Kotelly's ruling, which largely accepted the terms of the remedies agreed upon by Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Justice, was yesterday. Massachusetts announced Friday that it would appeal (see story). None of the other states that had pressed for harsher remedies than what the settlement called for are joining it and West Virginia in appealing Kollar-Kotelly's decision.
The West Virginia attorney general's office was not immediately available for comment.
However, Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler said the company had heard from West Virginia.
Reflecting the company's belief that the case is over and everyone should move on, Desler said, "Anyone who sat through the court remedy proceedings would have been struck by the thoughtfulness with which Kollar-Kotelly addressed all relevant issues, and her ruling reflects that."
The states that initially declined to sign off on the federal government's proposal for settlement on antitrust remedies with Microsoft were California, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Utah, and West Virginia. In addition, the District of Columbia joined the states in asking for harsher remedies.