Microsoft ruling may blunt other cases
C|Net | at | by Mike
Friday's antitrust ruling may give Microsoft powerful ammunition to defend against more than 60 private lawsuits pending against the software giant, legal experts say. "This judge has presented powerful reasoning to Microsoft's lawyers for defending its various private lawsuits that will allow them to argue that much of Judge Jackson's 'findings of fact' are irrelevant or at least should not be accepted wholesale by these other courts as a clear basis for antitrust liability," said Rich Gray, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based attorney closely following the trial.
"Just as the plaintiffs in these other cases have been introducing Judge Jackson's 'findings of fact,' I think it is more likely we will be submitting, rather than they, the determination that was made (on Friday)," he said. "There will be findings (in Kollar-Kotelly's ruling) that will be useful in these other cases. At the same time, I don't think that everything in these other cases will be disposed of by either Judge Kotelly or Judge Jackson."