DOJ due to counter Microsoft remedy proposals

After the stock market closes Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice and state attorneys general suing Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) for alleged antitrust violations are due to file their response to Microsoft's suggested remedies in the case. Microsoft filed its remedy proposal May 10. The DOJ is expected to dismiss Microsoft's conduct remedies as being too loophole-filled to merit serious consideration, and to reject outright Microsoft's refusal to break the company in two, as the DOJ has suggested. A week from today, all of the parties in the suit are slated to appear before Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson in U.S. District Court for a remedies hearing. At that hearing, the judge is expected to set a schedule for the next steps in the case, and to respond to Microsoft's request for more hearings before the Judge issues his ruling. -- Mary Jo Foley, ZDNet News