UPDATED: internetnews.com: Microsoft Break-up Overturned

Editor's note: we are substituting a fuller story from internetnews.com. We originally linked to cursory AP/Yahoo story.

As expected, a federal appeals court ruled that breaking up the software giant was not an acceptable remedy to antitrust charges. In addition, the court found that U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson improperly conducted himself in the case.

"In a major victory for Microsoft Corp., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Thursday overturned U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's ruling that the company be broken-up as a remedy to its anti-trust violations. The ruling affected only the remedy Jackson laid out, not his finding that the company had engaged in anti-competitive practices. "

"In a unanimous 7-0 decision, the court said Jackson's conduct had been improper."

"'We vacate the judgment on remedies, because the trial judge engaged in impermissible ex parte contacts by holding secret interviews with members of the media and made numerous offensive comments about Microsoft officials in public statements outside of the courtroom, giving rise to an appearance of partiality,' the court said...."

"The court sent the case back to a lower court for a new remedy hearing, but stipulated the case be heard by a judge other than Jackson."

Complete Story

You can also find a full copy of the decision (in PDF format) here.

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