(November 8) – “A federal judge found Microsoft Corp. to be a relentless, predatory monopolist in a harsh and far-reaching rebuke to both the company and Bill Gates, architect of its tough business tactics and legal strategy,” write John Wilkie and David Bank in The wall Street Journal, this morning.
“U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson shattered Microsoft’s defense in the trial and signaled that the world’s most valuable company — one of the engines of the new economy and most widely held stocks in the world — would likely be found guilty of violating antitrust law and face potentially severe remedies.
“The judge privately asked both sides to meet with him in his chambers as soon as next week for a scheduling conference that also is likely to plumb settlement prospects, people close to the case said.
“In a 207-page preliminary ruling, released late Friday, Judge Jackson found that Microsoft repeatedly tried to throttle competition and innovation that threatened its Windows monopoly in computer operating-system software. Significantly, he also found Microsoft’s actions “harmed consumers in ways that are immediate and easily discernible.” His findings in the government’s year-old antitrust trial are a first step toward a final judgment in the case early next year.
“For Microsoft and Mr. Gates, the judge’s findings on the facts of the case are a stinging setback that present a stark choice: fight on, or accept likely settlement terms that Mr. Gates, the company’s cofounder and chairman, once declared unthinkable. The company’s executives are weighing their options, while striving to project a business-as-usual demeanor.
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