Microsoft rivals get break in antitrust lawsuits
SeattlePI | at | by Mike
A federal judge in Baltimore said yesterday that he will apply some earlier antitrust findings against Microsoft Corp. to newer lawsuits by AOL Time Warner, Sun Microsystems and two other corporate rivals, easing but not eliminating their burden of proof. Baltimore judge, who is also hearing antitrust cases brought by more than 60 private plaintiffs against Microsoft, approved only the principle that the prior rulings can be applied to the current cases, Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler said.
Motz didn't rule on which of the prior findings, which are actually 412 facts about the case determined by U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson in June 2000, could be applied to new cases. The number of those facts that remain relevant was cut back, Desler maintains, when a federal appeals court in June 2001 partially reversed Jackson, upholding Microsoft's antitrust liability but on narrower grounds than Jackson's.