More U.S. states urge extension of Microsoft antitrust settlement
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Four states that recently said the U.S. federal judgment in the Microsoft antitrust case has done its job have made an about face, now joining&#160;other states asking for an extension of the judgment.
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BRUSSELS, Belgium  -- European antitrust regulators said Monday they have extended their review of a deal between Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Time Warner Inc...
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(InfoWorld) - A group of state plaintiffs in the U.S. Microsoft antitrust case will ask for a five-year extension of a large portion of the 2002 judgment against the company, the group's lawyer said Tuesday. California, Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia -- known as the "California group" -- want an extension of most of the middleware portions of the judgment, said Stephen Houck, a lawyer for the group. Microsoft still retains a huge lead in the operating system and Web browser markets, he said. "Microsoft continues to have a stranglehold over the two products ... that nearly all consumers use," Houck said during an antitrust compliance hearing in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. "Very little has happened in five years ... in those markets." The California group of states -- the larger of two groups of states that sued Microsoft for antitrust violations -- will ask for an extension of all the middleware portions of the antitrust judgement, except for a section that governs the royalties Microsoft can charge PC manufacturers for the Windows operating system. Most of the antitrust judgment was scheduled to expire in November. Microsoft lawyer Rick Rule said the company would need time to respond to Houck's proposal. Microsoft first heard of the plan to ask for an extension on Friday, he said, and the California group plans to file a formal extension request with the court in mid-October. Rule seemed to suggest Microsoft would fight the five-year extension. U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly declined to impose a 10-year judgment in 2002, he said. "We think the picture of the computer industry is much rosier," Rule added. "We think it's clear that the decree has done its job." Microsoft spokesman Jack Evans said the company will respond in more detail after it has seen the extension request. "We're a bit surprised that a few states are now requestingÂ an extension of the consent decree because they indicated just last month that they're not too fond of it," Evans said. In August 2006, Microsoft already agreed to an extension of the section of the judgment requiring it to make its communications protocols available to other software vendors. Microsoft's efforts to fix technical documentation for the protocols have run into several delays. Houck on Tuesday asked Kollar-Kotelly to extend the communications protocol section of the judgment until 2012. The California group does not "have any confidence" Microsoft will continue to improve the communications protocol program without oversight, Houck said. An independent auditor's report just issued questions whether Microsoft has released all the protocols mandated in the judgment, he added. The California group's extension proposal comes afterÂ the U.S. Department of Justice and the New York group of states filed briefs last month saying the antitrust judgment has done its job. "There have been a number of developments in the competitive landscape ... that suggest that the Final Judgments are accomplishing their stated goal of fostering competitive conditions among middleware products, unimpeded by anticompetitive exclusionary obstacles erected by Microsoft," said the report from the DOJ and New York group, which includes five states. But Houck disputed that assessment on Tuesday. At the time of the judgment, a handful of PC vendors were preinstalling a competing Web browser on PCs, he said. Today, no major ones are, he said. In addition, the communications protocol program was supposed to be finished early in the judgment's life, and its delays have kept software vendors from fully using the program, Houck said. "The whole thing ... doesn't have an opportunity to work as the court intended," he said. "It's very clear that the product markets at issue in this case have not moved rapidly at all." Kollar-Kotelly said she would delay final reports on the judgment while she considers the California group's request. Microsoft and the plaintiffs were scheduled to meet with her Nov. 6 to discuss the final reports, but she will now consider the extension request on that date. Before Houck made his request, the judge said she was opposed to extending the judgment without a good reason. It was hard to predict the impact the judgment would have, she added. "The final chapter of the final judgment has not been written," Kollar-Kotelly said. The California group wants Kollar-Kotelly to extend all of section 3 of the judgment except for section 3B, dealing with manufacturer royalties. The extended provision would include: *Â A prohibition against Microsoft retaliating against PC vendors for including competing software on PCs; *Â A prohibition against Microsoft restricting PC vendors from putting competing middleware in the start menu or making them defaults; *Â A requirement that Microsoft give APIs for its middleware to PC vendors and independent software vendors.
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A group of state attorneys general said  on Thursday that the consent decree that settled the landmark  antitrust case against Microsoft Corp has failed to reduce the  company's monopoly, disagreeing with the assessment of U.S.  antitrust officials.
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Google is pressing for an extension to the Justice Departmentâs oversight of Microsoftâs business practices.
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Consumers and businesses in California  will have until Jan. 8 to claim their part of a $1.1 billion  class action settlement with Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O after the  California Superior Court awarded an extension, plaintiff's  attorneys said on Thursday.
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Judge asked to approve extra two years--with the option of three more--for portions of landmark settlement critics say have been implemented too slowly.
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As expected, Redmond and the Justice Department earn formal approval to extend parts of their deal until November 2009--and maybe longer.
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Microsoft Corp  has submitted  documents required by the European Commission in an effort to  avoid further fines for breaching an antitrust ruling, a  spokeswoman for the European Union regulator said on Monday.
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A group of state attorneys general said on Thursday that the consent decree that settled the landmark antitrust case against Microsoft Corp has failed to reduce the company's monopoly, disagreeing with the assessment of U.S. antitrust officials.
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The European Commission warned  Microsoft  on Thursday it faced further fines in its  long-running antitrust battle with Brussels, this time for  seeking unreasonable prices from software makers for vital  data.
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Deadline extended while the software maker waits for a ruling in Justice Department's antitrust case.
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The Department of Justice and state attorneys general are raising questions about changes Microsoft wants to make in the schedule set out for its antitrust compliance.
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A group of states led by California said in a court filing Thursday that ending oversight of Microsoft's business practices in November would not allow enough time to consider the antitrust implications of Windows Vista.
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Microsoft&#39;s compliance with a&#160;U.S. antitrust settlement&#160;will remain under court supervision for another two years, in part because the company delayed producing documentation required by the court, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
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Microsoft Corp.&#39;s settlements with long-time opponents Novell Inc. and the Computer &amp; Communications Industry Association won&#39;t end the software maker&#39;s antitrust woes in Europe.
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Four states that previously praised the effectiveness of Microsoft's antitrust settlement reversed their positions and asked for an extension of government oversight of the software giant.