GOVERNMENT DEMANDS RAPID MICROSOFT RULING.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has taken the position in a filing with the Court that the Microsoft case is of such overall importance to the U.S. economy that it must be adjudicated immediately by the Supreme Court.

While the case no doubt is of extreme importance, the DOJ's position is probably equally based upon the expectation that Microsoft would receive a more sympathetic hearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Earlier decisions by that court have sustained Microsoft's view on certain positions taken within the antitrust litigation.

The DOJ argued in support of its position using Microsoft's own words when it recited in a recent brief that a breakup might impact "the entire United States economy".

There are sound reasons for allowing the U.S. Court of Appeals to hear the decision rather than having it go directly to the Court, since the USCA has a greater potential for developing a more comprehensive record, and facts which would be of assistance to the Supreme Court in the ultimate determination. The Supreme Court is not the best forum for fact determinations.

The Supreme Court is on vacation and no decision on the matter is expected prior to mid-September.

At the trial, the government accused Microsoft of insulating its operating-system software from competition, and seeking to extend that insulation to the Internet. Nineteen individual states had joined the DOJ in its prosecution of the antitrust case which was championed in the first instance by competitive companies.

Microsoft under the potential sword of breakup imposed by Judge Jackson's decision is working aggressively to refocus its business on the Internet where it does not have the same insulation or dominant position.