[HashDump]

WASHINGTON--Friday's antitrust ruling may give Microsoft powerful ammunition to defend against more than 60 private lawsuits pending against the software giant, legal experts say.

In separate actions Friday, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly approved with few changes a November 2001 settlement between Microsoft, the Justice Department and nine states and then she issued the revised settlement as her remedy in continued litigation brought by nine other states and the District of Columbia.

In the 344-page memorandum supporting her decision, Kollar-Kotelly potentially set limits on the use of U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's "findings of fact" in other cases. Many of the cases already faced an uphill struggle, but would have greatly benefited from the document's use to show Microsoft had harmed consumers or competitors, legal experts say. But Kollar-Kotelly's comments, part of her explanation for not imposing the stiffer sanctions requested by the plaintiff states, could effectively gut the majority of private cases pending against Microsoft.

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