US govt cautions judge of Microsoft trickery

US government lawyers tried to thwart an attempt by Microsoft to trick

Federal Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson into making a technical legal misstep that

could have dramatically altered the course of the antitrust case.

As part of what appears a cleverly designed legal trap, Microsoft lawyers

filed a motion with Jackson to ‘stay’ his verdict on the restraining order

that will be in place while the break-up verdict is reviewed in higher court.

Microsoft is desperately trying to avoid the break-up order to be reviewed by

the US Supreme Court. Having won an earlier antitrust case on appeal, Microsoft

wants the Washington DC Appeals Court to review the case. While the government

and Jackson intend to send the case straight to the Supreme Court for review,

Jackson needs Microsoft to first file a ‘Notice of Appeal’ to do so.

Microsoft has vowed to file the notice, but hasn’t done so yet. Should Jackson

have ruled on the stay motion, Microsoft could have filed its appeal to that

ruling to the Appeals Court before filing its Notice of Appeal motion on the

break-up order. Should that have occurred it would have been almost impossible

for Jackson to get the Supreme Court to review the case because a part of his

verdict would technically already be under review by the Appeals Court.