FEDERAL COURT EXPEDITES BRISTOL TECHNOLOGY V. MICROSOFT CORP. ANTITRUST LAWSUIT WITH JUNE 1, 1999 TRIAL DATE.DANBURY, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 31, 1998-- Court Finds Antitrust Standing and Denies Motion to Dismiss or Deliver Summary Judgement Noun 1. summary judgement - a judgment rendered by the court prior to a verdict because no material issue of fact exists and one party or the other is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law Bristol Technology Inc., leader in cross-platform development, will meet Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on : MSFT MSFT Microsoft (stock symbol) MSFT Movimento Sociale Fiamma Tricolore (Italy) MSFT Multi-Stage Fitness Test MSFT Master of Science in Family Therapy MSFT Macalester Students for Fair Trade ) in Federal Court on June 1, 1999. Federal Judge Janet C. Hall's December 30 ruling granted Bristol several key points that will prevail at trial, including demonstrated antitrust standing and a substantial likelihood that it will prove antitrust injury at trial. "Microsoft continues to try to obfuscate To make unclear or confuse. See obfuscator and e-mail obfuscator. the facts to attract attention away from the central issue, which is the anticompetitive an·ti·com·pet·i·tive adj. That discourages competition among businesses: anticompetitive foreign trade restrictions. behavior of a monopolist. While the judge denied the injunction, her Memorandum of decision foreshadows victory for Bristol," explains Keith Blackwell, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Bristol Technology. "We are thrilled with a June 1, 1999 trial date and the judge's findings of antitrust standing." "The judge recognized that Bristol has made an important contribution to the viability of UNIX UNIX Operating system for digital computers, developed by Ken Thompson of Bell Laboratories in 1969. It was initially designed for a single user (the name was a pun on the earlier operating system Multics). as a competitor to Windows NT (Windows New Technology) A 32-bit operating system from Microsoft for Intel x86 CPUs. NT is the core technology in Windows 2000 and Windows XP (see Windows). Available in separate client and server versions, it includes built-in networking and preemptive multitasking. ," explains Patrick Lynch Patrick Lynch can refer to:
Antitrust Standing and Injury While Microsoft has vigorously claimed that Bristol does not have standing because it is not a competitor of Microsoft, Judge Hall writes "However, based on the evidence before it at this time, the court finds that Bristol has clearly shown that it is indeed a competitor of Microsoft." Judge Janet Hall also writes, "Bristol has thus shown a substantial likelihood that it will be able to prove antitrust injury at trial." Irreparable Harm In the Memorandum, Federal Judge Janet C. Hall established that there is likelihood of irreparable harm. "Moreover, there is ample evidence that Microsoft intended to harm Bristol with respect to limiting the effectiveness of its Wind/U product," she writes. Microsoft Loses on Motion to Dismiss or For Summary Judgement Judge Janet Hall also ruled on Microsoft's Motion to Dismiss the Complaint or, in the alternative, for Summary Judgement, "The court DENIES the defendant's Motion in its entirety." Case Background In a lawsuit filed on August 18, 1998, in the U.S. District Court in Bridgeport, Conn., Bristol Technology is suing Microsoft for anticompetitive manipulation of the access to the Windows programming interfaces, that constitutes antitrust violations of the Sherman Act, as well as violations of Connecticut law. The trial is scheduled to commence on June 1, 1999. About Bristol Technology Headquartered in Danbury, Conn., Bristol Technology Inc. develops, markets, and supports the Wind/U family of Windows and UNIX cross-platform development products. Founded in 1991, the company was listed in the 1997 Inc. 500 as one of the fastest growing private companies in the United States. Its products also include HyperHelp(tm), software for creating UNIX-based on-line help systems with WinHelp functionality; Xprinter(tm), software for adding sophisticated printing capabilities to UNIX-based applications, and Jprinter(R), a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Pronounced "wiz-ee-wig." It refers to displaying text and graphics on screen the same as they will print on paper or display on a Web page. network printing system for Java. The company has a European subsidiary in Amersfoort, The Netherlands, and a development center in Bangalore, India. (c) 1998 Bristol Technology Inc. Bristol Technology and Wind/U are registered trademarks of Bristol Technology Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Editors' Note: For more information on this suit, legal documents, press materials and background information, please visit Bristol's home page at http://www.bristol.com. |
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