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Report: Mediator to effect settlement by deadline?

By Clare Haney
IDG News Service, 03/30/00

The court mediator's hopes of effecting a settlement in the antitrust battle between Microsoft and the U.S. government was reportedly the reason for the judge in the case delaying his conclusions of law due Tuesday. However, the deadline the mediator has set for reaching a settlement is only a week away, according to a report in The New York Times.

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson didn't release his conclusions of law Tuesday, contrary to his previously announced schedule.

The delay gives the parties involved - the Department of Justice, 19 U.S. states and Microsoft - a brief breathing space to reach a settlement, with the judge's conclusions of law now expected at the earliest on Friday, April 7. Jackson appointed Richard Posner, chief judge of the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago, as mediator in the antitrust case in November of last year in an attempt to bring about a settlement.

If a settlement is reached prior to the judge issuing his conclusions of law, the case ends. Microsoft issued a settlement proposal over the weekend, but the offer didn't immediately garner the Justice Department's approval, according to media reports.

Posner's written timetable for resolving the case reportedly states that if Microsoft and the Justice Department can't reach a settlement within a week, his mediation efforts will stop, the Times article said. Should the two sides reach an agreement on a settlement proposal, the other proponents in the case - the 19 U.S. state attorneys general - will have only two days to give the deal their seal of approval, according to The Times report. Settlement talks first got going at the end of November last year.

A spokesman for Posner refused to comment on The Times report, as did Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona.

The U.S. states theoretically could terminate their partnership with the Justice Department and go it alone against Microsoft. The two parties merged their separate antitrust suits against Microsoft when the case went to trial.

Jackson's findings of fact in the case went a long way towards supporting the U.S. government's case that Microsoft abused its monopoly position in the desktop operating systems market. However, Jackson's findings at that time didn't rule on whether the software vendor had violated antitrust law, another one of the government's contentions.

Once Jackson's conclusions of law are issued, the stage will then be set to consider remedies for the case, which could potentially involve a breakup of the software giant - a move Microsoft vehemently opposes.

Microsoft can be reached at 425-882-8080 or at www.microsoft.com/.