Sun calls for appeal of antitrust settlement.

By Rick Merritt.
301 words
5 November 2002
CMPnetasia.com
English
(c) 2002 Miller Freeman, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

An attorney for Sun Microsystems called for an appeal to Friday's decision to uphold the antitrust settlement negotiated between Microsoft and the Department of Justice. Meanwhile, others praised said the decision to stick with the controversial settlement negotiated a year ago.

"We believe that the non-settling states (that protested the settlement) have ample grounds to appeal this decision, and we hope that they do," said Michael Morris, Sun Microsystems' lawyer. "We will also continue to pursue our civil case and to cooperate with the European Commission's case against Microsoft to ensure that the company does not continue to use its monopoly position to become the gatekeeper of the Internet."

"The weak steps that Microsoft has taken to comply with therequirements already show that the settlement will be ineffective in curbing Microsoft's monopolistic and anti-competitive practices and how difficult it will be to enforce," he added.

Others praised the decision. "I think the judge's ruling was right. This was a good settlement. I didn't see any complaints from the nine states that had a good justification," Nicholas Economides, professor of economics at New York University Stern School of Business who had filed an independent brief supporting the settlement earlier this year.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates also praised the decision in a late afternoon press conference Friday. "This settlement gives us the freedom to keep innovating for our customers," Gates said.

He noted Microsoft has already made its Windows licenses to OEMs more uniform, published a host of application programming interfaces, hired a corporate compliance officer and trained employees on the terms of the settlement. "These are requirements we will adhere to," he added.

This story first appeare in EE Times, a US-based CMP publication.

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