Ripples of the Microsoft ruling
eWeek | at | by Mike
The antitrust remedies imposed on Microsoft Corp. late last week are widely seen as insufficient to bring about substantive change in the software market, but some industry observers say that the ruling out of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia could indirectly affect other cases pending against the software giant, here and in Europe.
Private antitrust lawsuits filed in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore by industry rivals seeking monetary damages are unlikely to garner support from Kollar-Kotelly's decision, legal scholars said. "Either the plaintiffs will be able to prove they suffered monetary harm or they won't," said Norman Hawker, associate professor at Haworth College of Business at Western Michigan University. Hawker added that rivals seeking injunctive relief are likely to be hurt by this month's decision in Washington, however.
"I think a judge in a private lawsuit is going to be very reluctant to do something at the request of a private party when a federal judge hasn't done anything," said Hawker, who is also a research fellow at the American Antitrust Institute in Washington. "A judge would be reluctant to give Sun Microsystems something that another judge would not give the attorney general of California."