The US Supreme Court has rejected Microsoft's request to overturn an earlier ruling that the software giant violated US anti-trust laws.
The court declined without any comment or dissent to review the June 28th ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which concluded that Microsoft had illegally maintained its monopoly over the market for personal computer operating systems.
Microsoft had argued in its appeal to the Supreme Court that the original ruling in the case, handed down last year by District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, was tainted because of Judge Jackson's misconduct after the trial.
Judge Jackson gave secret press interviews before issuing a sweeping ruling against the company. In the interviews, he derided Microsoft executives and compared them to common street criminals.