A US judge has conditionally approved most parts of an antitrust settlement between Microsoft, the US Justice Department and nine states.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly had rejected the alternative demands of nine states opposed to the settlement.
An appeals court in June of 2001 upheld trial court findings that Microsoft had illegally maintained its Windows monopoly in personal computer operating systems.
There was no immediate word on whether the nine states, which had rejected the settlement of the over four-year-old case as ineffective, would appeal Kollar-Kotelly's decision.