Appeals court: Don't break up Microsoft
C|Net | at | by Mike
In a victory for Microsoft, a federal appeals court has removed the trial judge from the historic antitrust case and vacated his order calling for the breakup of the software titan. In a 125-page decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the trial judge who issued the breakup order, Thomas Penfield Jackson, "seriously tainted the proceedings" and removed him from the case. In Thursday's decision, the federal appeals court unanimously vacated that order and sent parts of the case back to a lower court. In addition, the court determined that the case should be heard by a new judge. "We are...constrained to vacate the final judgment on remedies, remand the case for reconsideration of the remedial order, and require that the case be assigned to a different trial judge on remand," the appeals court wrote. In explaining the reasons behind its ruling, the appellate court said: "First, the district court failed to hold an evidentiary hearing despite the presence of remedies-specific factual disputes. Second, the court did not provide adequate reasons for its decreed remedies."