(story to be published in tomorrow's issue, March 28)
The judge in the Microsoft antitrust trial is poised to deliver his verdict in the landmark case as early as Tuesday, after the latest round of settlement proposals failed to reach a compromise over the weekend. Lawyers close to the talks warned there could be a further series of exchanges this week in a last-minute attempt to stave off Judge Thomas Jackson's legal rulings. But last week's reports of an imminent settlement were dismissed by those familiar with the negotiations as "overblown, crazy speculation." Prospects for a mediated settlement faded over the weekend as government officials suggested Microsoft's latest proposals were insufficient. However, officials from the US justice department and 19 states suing Microsoft are divided over what a sufficient settlement might be, or what remedy to seek from the court. Judge Jackson is expected to rule that Microsoft broke antitrust laws after finding in November that the company had harmed consumers and "engaged in a concerted series of actions" to protect its monopoly in operating system software. If he finds that Microsoft has indeed broken antitrust laws, the court would then hold a series of hearings on possible remedies over the summer. A negotiated settlement has proved elusive since the lawsuit's filing in 1998 because of the chasm between both sides over a series of critical issues. The most fundamental - and apparently unbridgeable - rift is Microsoft's insistence that it should be free to add features to its products without interference. Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman, has said repeatedly that there could be no compromise on this issue. "At the heart of this case is whether a successful American company can continue to improve its products for the benefit of consumers," Mr Gates wrote in a November letter to shareholders, business partners and customers. "This is precisely what Microsoft did by developing new versions of the Windows operating system with built-in support for the Internet." Reuters
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