Washington, Nov 05: A federal appeals court pointedly questioned whether the bush administration's antitrust settlement with Microsoft Corp. Adequately protects consumers and competitors from monopolistic abuses. Legal experts said it was unlikely the six-judge panel from the US circuit court for the District of Columbia would accept as adequate only the sanctions that Microsoft accepted under the settlement, given the serious questions that some of the judges raised during a lively three-hour hearing.

"They surprised me," Robert Lande, a University of Baltimore law professor who has followed the case closely, said. "I went into this thinking there was little probability they would do anything except rubber-stamp the settlement." Circuit Judge Judith W Rogers asked lawyers about how the disputed antitrust settlement denies Microsoft the fruits of its illegal business practices toward its commercial rivals during the late 1990s. She said some penance was necessary; "otherwise, monopolists could squelch all comers without consequence."

Bureau Report