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UPDATE: In her ruling on the antitrust case brought by the 9 states that declined to settle with Microsoft Corp., Judge Collen Kollar-Kotelly approved the proposed final judgement.
Kollar-Kotelly basically reiterated the remedies agreed upon by the Department of Justice, 9 other states and Microsoft.
The nine states had sought harsher penalties against Microsoft, as a result of a District Courts finding that the company had abused its monopoly power in the Windows PC desktop market.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said Thursday that Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly would rule on the anti-trust cases involving Microsoft Corp. late in the day Friday, nearly one year after the federal government agreed to settle the case.
Kollar-Kotelly presides over two parallel cases stemming from the federal governments suit against Microsoft brought in 1998, which the government won.
Last November, the federal government and nine states signed a settlement proposal regarding anti-trust penalties, and the judge was tasked with conducting a review (known as the “Tunney Act” review) to determine whether the settlement is in the public interest.
At the same time, nine other states and the District of Columbia dissented from the settlement in favor of pursuing stricter penalties against Microsoft. During the spring, Kollar-Kotelly heard more than eight weeks worth of witness testimony in the dissenting states case while the Tunney Act review was pending.
This story was updated to include breaking news from Washington. Mary Jo Foley contributed to this story. More news will follow.