Microsoft Corp has asked a US federal judge for a four-month delay of hearings on what antitrust remedy should be imposed on the company.
The software giant told US District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in a filing that it needed the delay because the states rejecting a proposed settlement of the case are seeking a "dramatic expansion" of possible sanctions.
Under the current timetable, laid out by the judge three months ago, the remedy hearings are set to begin on March 11. Microsoft said that leaves it too little time to prepare.
The schedule "should be amended in view of the non-settling states' dramatic expansion of the scope of the litigation beyond what the court reasonably could have anticipated three months ago," Microsoft said in its brief.
The US Justice Department and nine of the 18 states in the landmark case have agreed to a settlement that would require Microsoft to take steps to give computer makers more freedom to feature rival software on their machines.
But nine dissenting state attorneys general say the settlement is inadequate, and have asked Kollar-Kotelly for tougher sanctions against the company for illegally maintaining its monopoly in personal computer operating systems.
Among other things, these states want Kollar-Kotelly to order Microsoft to sell a cheaper, stripped-down version of its Windows operating system.
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, from one of the hold-out states, argued against a delay.
"If there is one thing that characterizes Microsoft's conduct in this case even more than denial, it is delay, delay, delay," he said in a statement.
"The States are ready to move ahead. We have proposed reasonable and fair remedies consistent with the Court of Appeals' decision, and Judge Kollar-Kotelly has established a reasonable and expeditious schedule to determine the remedies. Let's get on to the conclusion of this case," he said.