WASHINGTON — Microsoft Corp. won an important victory Tuesday as the Supreme Court declined to immediately hear the landmark antitrust case, sending it instead to a appeals court and giving the company more time to reposition itself in a fast-changing technology industry.
The decision means that it will be at least six months--and possibly more than a year--before the case could again come before the high court. The ruling also could lead to a decision that tosses out the government's case entirely.
"This decision is very good for Microsoft," said Robert Lande, a University of Baltimore law professor who has generally supported the government's contention that Microsoft has a monopoly in software and needs to be broken up. "The bottom line is it is very likely the Supreme Court won't hear this case for another six months to a year." The turn of events, Lande said, could trigger a more aggressive Microsoft and "embolden the hard-liners at Microsoft who [for years] have been arguing that 'we will win this case in the end.' "
Investors cheered the tactical victory, bidding Microsoft shares up by $1.44, to a close of $62.69, in heavy Nasdaq trading.
To be sure, the company still faces a daunting task. U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled in April that the software giant violated federal antitrust laws by using its Windows operating system to muscle out its competitors. Even a conservative bench may find compelling a trial record that includes incriminating memos from Microsoft executives as well as testimony from an uncharacteristically hesitant and forgetful Bill Gates.
Still, Microsoft, whose flagship software Windows runs more than 90% of all personal computers, will have a fresh chance to challenge the trial judge's controversial handling of the case as well as solidify its software empire--and to do so before more sympathetic jurists.
Judge Jackson delayed implementation of his sanctions against Microsoft--including an order to split the company in two and to impose restrictions on its business practices--until the case was resolved by a higher court. Now lawyers for the government and Microsoft will confront an overwhelmingly conservative seven-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which is generally skeptical of a breakup of Microsoft as well as the government's intervention in the fast-moving computer software market. In an earlier case, the panel overturned an order issued by Jackson that Microsoft offer a version of Windows without its Internet Explorer browser.
