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Microsoft to object to Supreme Court motion on Monday

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CIOL Bureau
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SEATTLE: Software titan Microsoft Corporation said on Wednesday it would formally file early next week its objections to the US government's attempt to take its appeal of the antitrust breakup order against it directly to the Supreme Court.



Microsoft, which on Tuesday filed official notice to appeal a federal judge's ruling to break the company in two, said it was entitled to 11 calendar days to respond to the Justice Department's motion that the case detour a lower appeals court and go directly to the nation's top judges.



But in a sign that the world's biggest software company wants the issue of where the appeal will be heard settled swiftly, Microsoft said it would file its response on Monday, in line with a schedule proposed by Justice.



The government made a filing of its own Wednesday, objecting to Microsoft's application Tuesday to the US Court of Appeals for a stay of the entire breakup order when the company already had a similar request before trial judge Thomas Penfield Jackson.



The US Justice Department and the states suing Microsoft asked the appeals court to either summarily dismiss the firm's stay application as premature or defer its stay opinion until Jackson rules and the issue of which court will hear the appeal is resolved.



Microsoft said its filing would outline the company's objections to taking the appeal directly to the Supreme Court, bypassing the lower court of appeals in Washington, DC, which has sided with Microsoft in the past.



"The government's petition is certainly questionable about the rationale for expediting this case directly to the Supreme Court," company spokesman Jim Cullinan said in an e-mail.



"Microsoft does not believe that the government should try to evade the Court of Appeals," Cullinan said. "Given the vast array of factual, legal and procedural errors ... we believe the Court of Appeals is the proper venue."



Shortly after Microsoft filed its notice to appeal, Justice said it had asked Judge Jackson, who found Microsoft guilty of breaking antitrust law and ordered it split up, to fast-track the appeal to the Supreme Court, saying the significance of the case warranted special treatment.



In an unusual step, the appeals court, citing the "exceptional importance" of the case, said all seven of its eligible judges would hear the case rather than the usual three-judge panel followed by a full hearing. Microsoft said that showed the appeals court would move quickly to hear the case.



Even if Jackson sends the case to the Supreme Court, the judges are not obliged to accept it, and many observers have said the court may prefer to see the case work its way through the legal system before hearing it.



Shares in Microsoft rose 2-7/8, or about 4 per cent, to 70-3/4 in trading on the Nasdaq on Wednesday. Its 52-week trading range is 60-3/8 to 119-15/16.



(C) Reuters Limited 2000.

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