United States Fourth Circuit

On cross appeals from interlocutory orders in an antitrust action, denial of Microsoft's motion to dismiss claims alleging injury to competition in the market for PC operating systems is affirmed: 1) where factors under Ass'n of Gen. Contractors of Cal., Inc. v. Cal. State Council of Carpenters , 459 U.S. 519 (1983), favor granting antitrust standing to Novell on certain counts; and 2) over Microsoft's claim that the court should adopt a bright-line rule that only consumers or competitors in the relevant market have antitrust standing to bring private treble-damages claims under section 4 of the Clayton Act. Order dismissing certain of Novell's counts is also affirmed over claim that the district court erred in dismissing such counts as untimely, which alleged injury to competition in the office-productivity-applications market.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/15/2007
• Published 10/15/2007

Judges

• Before WIDENER SHEDD, and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:  Steven Lyon Holley, Sullivan & Cromwell, New York, New York, for Appellant/Cross-Appellee.  Charles Justin Cooper, Cooper & Kirk, P.L.L.C., Washington, D.C., for Appellee/Cross-Appellant.   ON BRIEF:  Thomas W. Burt, Steven J. Aeschbacher, Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington;  Robert A. Rosenfeld, Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe, L.L.P., San Francisco, California;  David B. Tulchin, Sullivan & Cromwell, New York, New York;  G. Stewart Webb, Venable, L.L.P., Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant/Cross-Appellee.  R. Bruce Holcomb, Jeffrey M. Johnson, Milton A. Marquis, David L. Engelhardt, Dickstein, Shapiro, Morin & Oshinsky, L.L.P., Washington, D.C.;  David H. Thompson, Howard C. Nielson, David M. Lehn, Cooper & Kirk, P.L.L.C., Washington, D.C., for Appellee/Cross-Appellant.