West Virginia joins fight against Microsoft

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WASHINGTON--West Virginia's attorney general said on Monday that the state will join Massachusetts in appealing a judge's decision to endorse a settlement of the Microsoft antitrust case.

Darrell McGraw, the attorney general of West Virginia, filed a notice in federal court that the state will challenge last month's decision by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to approve the settlement.

In a statement, McGraw said the state will join the appeal because the settlement, negotiated between Microsoft and the U.S. Justice Department last year, does not go far enough to end all of Microsoft's illegal practices.

"No reputable government should plead poverty and allow an adjudicated lawbreaker to retain their ill-gotten gains," McGraw said.

Massachusetts filed notice on Friday that it would appeal the decision. The District of Columbia and the seven other states that had previously rejected the settlement--California, Connecticut, Iowa, Florida, Kansas, Minnesota and Utah--said they would not appeal.

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