The U.S. government and 19 states allege that Microsoft has a monopoly and has acted illegally to protect that monopoly. The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant denies that such a monopoly exists or can exist, and it maintains it has broken no laws. Jackson has been urging both sides to reach a settlement for months, and his announcement that he will issue his findings as early as this Friday may be one more attempt to get Microsoft to give up some ground to the Justice Department, something the combative company has so far failed to do. Microsoft officials continue to insist that they fully expect to win the case. Jackson's conclusions of law will not be released for some time, perhaps not even until early next year.
Most experts say the judge is likely to reach that conclusion.
If that happens, other companies would have a much easier time suing Microsoft for anti-competitive practices, essentially needing only to prove they have suffered financial damages to collect substantial sums from the company. In addition, while Jackson's conclusions of law could easily be overturned by an appeals court, it would be much more difficult to get those findings of fact thrown out, so any finding that Microsoft is a monopoly could have a significant impact on the company's bottom line for a long time. Knight Ridder New Media, a division of the San Jose Mercury News' parent company, Knight Ridder, is a supporter of ProComp, a coalition of companies and organizations that believe Microsoft Corp.'s business practices are anti-competitive. Knight Ridder New Media considers itself a competitor with Microsoft because of the software company's efforts to provide news, entertainment and classified advertising content online. The copyright laws prohibit any copying, redistributing, retransmitting, or repurposing of any copyright-protected material.