Negotiations in the Microsoft antitrust case started this week under a deadline of Nov. 2. But the obstacles to a settlement loom large, and both sides have reasons to resist. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly invoked both national purpose and practical reason last Friday as she ordered the two sides in the Microsoft antitrust case to return to the negotiating table one last time. The "recent tragic events," she said, lent an added urgency to resolving the issue, given its importance to the national economy. A settlement can surely be reached "if everybody is reasonable" and "acts in good faith," the judge declared.
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