Mercury News: Appeals court refuses to delay case against Microsoft. “Microsoft is getting closer to its day of reckoning in the District Court,” said Jeffrey Blattner, a former senior antitrust official at the Justice Department who worked on the case under Joel Klein.
So, Microsoft has finally run out of time in one arena. The appeals court didn’t buy the company’s routine the first time, and again it unanimously rebuffed yet another attempt to circumvent the law.
Getting this case back in front of a district judge is essential, so that government prosecutors can show just how quickly MIcrosoft is moving to reinforce its monopoly powers and extend them into new markets. Remedies for past lawbreaking should consider the current situation, though no doubt Microsoft will do its utmost to keep the discussion to behavior that can no longer be remedied or for which remedies today would be meaningless in the current context.
Anyone want to bet on how quickly Microsoft annoys the next judge into saying something intemperate? It’s getting to be a pattern. Judges should resist the bait. But maybe the company’s defenders should ask why Microsoft manages to infuriate every judge it encounters, not just moan about the unfairness of judges’ predicatably nasty responses to the provocations.