WASHINGTON--Microsoft hopes to use its Friday antitrust victory as a starting point for resolving legal troubles in Europe.
In separate actions Friday, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly approved, with few changes, a November 2001 settlement between Microsoft, the Justice Department and nine states and then she issued the revised settlement as her remedy in continued litigation brought by nine other states and the District of Columbia.
Her ruling, which University of Baltimore Law School professor Bob Lande described as "basically appeal-proof," is likely to bring the four-year-old antitrust case to an end. But that doesn't mean Microsoft's problems with trustbusters are over.
The European Union's Competition Commission is investigating allegations Microsoft used its dominance in desktop operating systems to gain an unfair advantage in the server software market. A preliminary ruling is expected by the end of year.
On Monday, the EU said it must uphold European law in its own separate probe of the company. Commission spokeswoman Amelia Torres said the EU investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices by Microsoft was factually and legally different from the U.S. case.
