Antitrust Settlement Approved With Few Modifications

In a victory for Microsoft, a federal judge has approved the company’s antitrust settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) and nine states and declined to impose stricter penalties requested by nine other states and the District of Columbia. The ruling will have little effect on Microsoft’s business because the company has already started to abide by the DoJ settlement. Although this case is probably over, the plaintiffs and the judge will be watching closely for violations of the settlement agreement, and the company still faces private antitrust lawsuits and an antitrust investigation by the European Union (EU).

What the Judge Said

On Nov. 1, 2002, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued two orders conditionally approving Microsoft’s settlement with the DoJ and the nine settling states (with one modification to give her greater oversight power), and issued a final judgment in the non-settling states’ case that essentially imposed the same settlement on them as well. She also issued more than 500 pages of documentation explaining her judgments.