Microsoft Predicts Reversal on Appeal

(June 7, 2000) Bill Gates and other Microsoft officers and supporters predicted that Judge Jackson's Final Judgment will be reversed on appeal.

Bill Gates stated at a press conference that "We will be exercising our right to appeal this decision, and we're confident the judicial system will overturn today's ruling. We will also seek a stay of this order so the appeal can move forward without any unnecessary harm to Microsoft and to consumers through the delay or interference with our work on new products."

Microsoft's Chief Software Engineer, Bill Gates, General Counsel, Bill Neukom, and Chief Operating Officer, Bob Herbold, held a press conference after the release of the Final Judgment by Judge Thomas Jackson.

Gates added, "this is really quite unprecedented. You know, Microsoft is a unitary company. We've got one research group, one sales force, one development group, and there's never been anything like this in judicial history. The idea that somebody would say that that breakup is a reasonable thing comes as quite a surprise to us, and we're quite confident that it won't be something that ever comes into effect."

	Bill Gates

Gates stated that "the core of the case is whether it was appropriate for Microsoft to put Internet support into Microsoft Windows. And I think even more now than when this case first started, the world at large can look and say that it's really common sense that our operating systems and every other operating system would seek to do a great job of supporting the Internet.

Gates was also asked whether Microsoft has any plans "to move any part of the company or companies either out of state or maybe out of the country?"

This is how he answered: "Well, certainly nothing in this lawsuit is affecting our decisions about what's the most effective place for us to get work done. We do about ninety percent of our R&D here in the United States. There's no plans to change that. We have some overseas development centers in a couple of different locations that do excellent work. That's a good thing. But the heart and soul of our R&D is going to remain exactly where it is today."

Bill Neukom addressed the legal aspects of the case and appeal at the press conference. He stated that Microsoft will file a Notice of Appeal and a motion to stay the Final Judgment "a very few days."

He stated that "we are fully confident that at the end of the appellate process, we will have been successful in persuading the court that Microsoft's conduct, the challenged conduct in this lawsuit, was not only not anti-competitive, it was pro-competitive."

"There is some question about whether the federal government will seek to take advantage of a portion of a federal law called the Expediting Act, under which they might ask the judge, the trial court judge, to certify their case, the DOJ case, for direct appeal to the Supreme Court. If they do that, as Bill mentioned earlier, that may mean that the DOJ case is going in one appellate direction while the state's case is in front of the court of appeals. We will seek a stay in whatever appellate forum this matter is being considered."

Neukom also conceded that "There is no guarantee of a stay. I think on this record, both the substance of these remedies and the lack of any process for Microsoft to put evidence in front of this court, make a compelling case for a stay of virtually all of the relief that has been entered in this final judgment."

Neukom also pointed out the the Court of Appeals reversed Judge Jackson's ruling in the previous Department of Justice proceeding against Microsoft, and that another Court of Appeals panel reversed the District Court ruling against Intel in Intergraph's antitrust action.

Jackson wrote in his Memorandum and Order that "Microsoft officials have recently been quoted publicly to the effect that the company has "done nothing wrong" and that it will be vindicated on appeal. The Court is well aware that there is a substantial body of public opinion, some of it rational, that holds to a similar view. It is time to put that assertion to the test. If true, then an appellate tribunal should be given early opportunity to confirm it as promptly as possible, and to abort any remedial measures before they have become irreversible as a practical matter."

He added that the Final Judgment is "appealable", and that "No further proceedings will be required."

	Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX)

Others were also quick to criticize Judge Jackson's Final Judgment, and predict reversal upon appeal. For example, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) released a statement in which he stated that "I'm shocked that one judge would presume to know exactly how the high-tech economy should evolve."

Rep. Armey, who was an economics professor before being elected to Congress, stated that "Company mergers and product innovations have dramatically changed the playing field since this case was filed."

"Judge Jackson's ruling will divert innovative companies from creating better products. Worse, it will send the message to innovators around the world that in America we punish success," added Rep. Armey.

"It is this ruling, not Microsoft, that is damaging to consumers, as it would deny consumers new products, better accessibility and lower prices. I'm confident the appeals court will reject Judge Jackson's notion that any one man can foresee how this world of possibility should unfold."