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West Virginia will join Massachusetts in appealing the Microsoft antitrust ruling.
West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw announced Monday that the state would be continuing its legal battle with the software giant. McGraw said although the U.S. District Court found that Microsoft violated federal and state antitrust laws, “the court largely sided with Microsoft in its decision on how to remedy the unlawful conduct,” said a statement issued by McGraws office. However, McGraw said, the court failed to impose sanctions that will remedy the unlawful co-mingling of computer software code that the federal court of appeals specifically agreed was an antitrust violation.
“We have preserved our appeal,” McGraw said in a statement. “No reputable government should plea poverty and allow an adjudicated lawbreaker to retain their ill-gotten gains.”
Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly applauded West Virginias decision to appeal the Microsoft ruling:
“I am pleased and grateful to have the support of West Virginia and Chief Justice Darrell V. McGraw Jr. in appealing the Microsoft antitrust case. I look forward to working with Chief Justice McGraw and his staff on this important litigation.”
Jonathan Zuck, president of the Washington-based Association for Competitive Technology, called the decision to appeal “very puzzling.”
Zuck said the outcome of the case has “fundamentally changed the way Microsoft does business, and consumers and the industry are already seeing the benefits. The vast majority of the industry cheered the decision and the end of the long-running case. Finally, nearly every legal scholar who has reviewed the judges decision believes it to be well-reasoned and beyond appeal. The interests of consumers and the technology industry will be best served by strong enforcement of this decree and an end to the long-running litigation and uncertainty. We hope that Attorneys General Reilly and McGraw will eventually realize this too.”