|
MSFT not on Court docket
|
 |
September 8, 2000: 11:23 a.m. ET
Supreme Court's latest list of cases does not include software firm's appeal
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The U.S. Supreme Court still isn't indicating whether it will hear Microsoft Corp.'s appeal in its landmark antitrust case or send the case back to a lower court.
In Friday's final list of orders to be issued before the high court returns Oct. 2, the Microsoft case was not named. The Supreme Court normally lists the cases it will review in regularly scheduled releases of orders, and could still decide to take Microsoft's case at any time before the start of the new term.
Micrososft spokesman Jim Cullinan told CNNfn.com that the company had no comment on Friday's news.
Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates) was found guilty in June of violating the Sherman Act, the nation's antitrust law, through the use of its monopoly on the Windows personal computer operating system to stifle competition. The software leader was ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson to split the company in two to open competition.
 Jackson asked the Supreme Court to hear Microsoft's appeal directly, bypassing the U.S. Court of Appeals, which has previously ruled in Microsoft's favor. The government asked that the case be expedited through a Supreme Court hearing, and said the case should be resolved as quickly as possible in the public's best interest.
In response to Jackson's move, Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates) in July said the lower court should handle the case, arguing that there was a "morass" of issues the high court should avoid and said that a thorough -- rather than a speedy -- review was necessary.
"The benefits of comprehensive review by the Court of Appeals far outweigh whatever time, if any, might be saved by direct review in this court," Microsoft said in its filing. "The need for soundness in the result outweighs the need for speed in reaching it."
The Redmond, Wash-based company accused the government of unfairly invoking the Expediting Act. The Expediting Act has previously only been invoked in two previous cases in the past 26 years. Both of those requests involved an antitrust suit against AT&T (T: Research, Estimates) and its subsidiaries and, in each instance, the Supreme Court accepted direct review.
In midday trading Friday, Microsoft shares fell 25 cents to $69.81. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Microsoft
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNNmoney
|
|
|
|
 |
|
