FC: Larry Lessig gets to file amicus brief; Jackson overrules MS

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

********

Jackson's somewhat pointed order:
  http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/98-1232q.pdf

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By John R. Wilke
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON -- U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson rejected
Microsoft Corp.'s objections to Lawrence Lessig's renewed participation
in the company's antitrust trial, saying he finds no convincing evidence
the Harvard University Internet expert is biased against Microsoft.

Microsoft had said in an earlier court filing that Mr. Lessig, whose views
on the case had been solicited by Judge Jackson, "may not be an impartial
friend of the court with regard to legal issues in the case."

[...]

In its filing -- the second time in the case that Microsoft had objected to
Mr. Lessig -- the company excerpted a brief radio interview in which Mr.
Lessig is quoted as saying Microsoft's control of the "architecture of
cyberspace" is a "threat to innovation." It had also complained that he
was associated with an advisory group connected to Red Hat Software
Inc., which promotes Linux, computer operating-system software that
competes with Microsoft's dominant Windows software in some markets.

[...]



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