Microsoft break-up ruling reversed

The appeals court also devoted 20 pages of its 125-page opinion on the matter to the subject of “judicial misconduct,” saying that Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, the U.S. District Court judge who ruled against Microsoft, violated ethical guidelines requiring judges to avoid public comments on pending cases and avoid the appearance of impropriety.

However, the court affirmed Judge Jackson’s conclusions that Microsoft does have a monopoly in the market for computer operating systems and maintained that monopoly power by anticompetitive means which violated U.S. antitrust laws.

“The judgment of the District Court is affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded in part,” the court wrote in its opinion. “We vacate in full the Final Judgment embodying the remedial order, and remand the case to the District Court for reassignment to a different trial judge for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”