District Court Approves Settlement Between Microsoft and Federal Government.

Mondaq Business Briefing, January, 2003

In approving a proposed settlement of the antitrust action brought by the U.S. Department of Justice against Microsoft Corp., Judge Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued two opinions. In the first, she determined the proposed settlement generally comported with the Tunney Act, which requires that courts subject any consent decree proposed in civil antitrust suits brought by the federal government to a "public interest" analysis.

In the second, the court analyzed the settlement, as well as an alternate plan put forth by nine state attorneys general who were not satisfied with the federal government's proposed settlement, and sought to impose stricter remedies against Microsoft. The judge rejected the proposed harsher remedies,...