EU court to rule on Microsoft on Sept. 17

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EU court has been ally for monopolists: Then a Judge Jackson.: This story isn't well told in the USA but the EU had its own Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson. Jackson, of course, is the great American Hero who, recognizing apparent manipulation of the appeals courts by Microsoft, went to the press shooting "ducks" which in his speech means:

if it looks like a criminal organization
it is a criminal organization and
should be treated so
and be shot before it gets away.

In the USA you do not give up your rights to publish opinion when you take a government job or judgeship and there was nothing Microsoft could do to Jackson regarding his career or private life owing to his shots. I think he is back on the road to becoming a Supreme. In any case he is a great US patriot hero who has had huge impact on our polite society and the IT industry.

Jackson's public comments have ruined Bill Gates' IT career and Gates will remove himself completely from the company he co-founded, by the end of 2008. He had no choice really.

Jackson was particularly hard on Bill Gates in the press and there was a lot of confusion because many believed slander had occurred. But, in the USA you can pretty much say anything about a public person.

The Appeals court was also made to look bad (as if bribes were involved) and they chastised Judge Jackson for meeting with reporters and removed him from the case. But proof of wrong doing isn't required in our USA system. Citizens are expected and obligated to shoot of their mouths when wrong-doing is suspected and the doer is a public person or institution.

This process alerts consumers to potential crimes and criminals and limits the ability of wrong doers to be elected into public service. Proof isn't required. Devils advocates are encouraged in our system and the press holds an important role in that system. But this is very different from the system of democracy in Europe.

The European equivalent of Judge Jackson is a man named ironically Hubert Legal. Judge Hubert Legal's troubles involved publication of an article where he claimed French speaking law clerks tended to regard themselves as "ayatollahs of free enterprise" and appeared to have "arbitrary power" being used to help Microsoft. The article was published in the French journal Concurrences (Competition).

The EU court to rule on Microsoft on Sept. 17 rules in French and apparently clerk ayatollahs were using their command of the French language to fool the previous panel of judges into supporting Microsoft. It is important to note that dissenting opinion from judges is not allowed in the EU court systems unlike the US system. So Legal may have acted illegally. Nonetheless..

Like Jackson, Legal was removed from his case involving Microsoft and Vesterdorf took his place.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/23/business/court.php

When I see this kind of thing (judge replacement), I assume that "Judge Shopping" is involved. This is the practice where the rich and powerful, perceiving that they are not going to prevail, seek to replace the current judge with the notion that they are no worse off and might be much better off owing to delay.

Vesterdorf was expected to take many more years before his ruling. My gut feeling is that this is bad for Microsoft. Justice delayed is justice denied. But it is not a strong gut feel. Vesterdorf wrote almost 100 pages explaining why Microsoft could not delay implementing remedies. This story is especially worth following owing to that.

Frank L. Mighetto CCP; Posted by: mighetto Posted on: 07/17/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use