An appeals court refused yesterday to reconsider its decision that Microsoft illegally bundled its Windows operating system and Internet browser, handing the software giant a setback in its four-year antitrust battle with the US government.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied Microsoft's request in a brief order, clearing the way for the case to be sent back to a lower court to decide Microsoft's penalty for being an illegal monopoly.
"Nothing in the court's opinion is intended to preclude the District Court's consideration of remedy issues," the appellate judges said.
In its June order, the appeals court decided that Microsoft illegally commingled software code for the two flagship products in an attempt to stunt competition and keep consumers from using one without the other. Microsoft asked the court to reconsider.
The commingling issue was a central tenet of the Justice Department's antitrust case.
However, the jurists yesterday also denied the Justice Department's request to speed up the case. Their decision keeps the lower court from tackling the penalty decision until mid-August.
Andy Gavil, a Howard University law professor following the case, said he wasn't surprised by Microsoft's loss.
"I didn't think the [rehearing] issues were substantial. I thought basically they had plowed that route." Gavil said
Neither Microsoft nor the Justice Department had any immediate comment.
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