Microsoft Timeline

27 Pages 6746 Words

for Microsoft, the Supreme Court declines to consider the government's bid to break up the software maker, choosing instead to send the case to a lower court.

Feb. 26, 2001 - Microsoft and the government square off during first day of two-day hearing on Microsoft's appeal of Judge Jackson's breakup order before seven judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

June 28, 2001 - U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reverses Judge Jackson's ruling that Microsoft be broken into two companies. The Appeals Court vacated in full the final judgment and remanded the case to a new judge. Its decision questioned the partiality of Judge Jackson.

July 11, 2001 - Further signaling its willingness to settle its antitrust case with the government, Microsoft says it will give PC manufacturers more flexibility in configuring desktop versions of its Windows operating system.

Aug. 7, 2001 - Microsoft asks Supreme Court to take up the case.

Sept. 6, 2001 - The Justice Department decides it will not seek to break Microsoft Corp. in two during the next phase of the software maker's landmark antitrust case.

Sept. 28, 2001 - U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly orders attorneys for Microsoft and the Justice Department into settlement talks. She says the talks should proceed "24 hours a day, seven days a week," and set a deadline of Nov. 2. If there is no settlement by then, Kollar-Kotelly said a hearing on what steps to take to curb Microsoft's abuses of antitrust law would start in March 2002.

Oct. 9, 2001 - The U.S. Supreme Court declines Microsoft's request that it overturn an earlier ruling by a lower court finding the company guilty of violating antitrust laws. The case returns to the district court for further settlement talks.

Nov. 1, 2001 - A day before a deadline set by the federal judge overseeing the case, Microsoft and the Justice Department reached a tentative agreement to sett...