[link|http://www.nando.net/technology/story/259220p-2421061c.html|DOJ says their input is irrelevant]

Excerpt:

WASHINGTON (February 19, 2002 4:51 p.m. EST) - The Justice Department and Microsoft asked a court Tuesday to bar a telecommunications company from testifying in a hearing to approve their antitrust settlement.

Several Microsoft rivals have asked the court to let them appear at the hearing, scheduled for March 6. In papers filed with U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, the Justice Department and Microsoft argued that SBC Communications has no right to enter the case.

"Asserting no claim or defense of its own, SBC simply seeks to promote its own view of the public interest," Justice lawyers wrote. "But the United States, and not private parties, represents the public interest in government antitrust cases."

SBC provides telephone and Internet service in California, Nevada and several other states. The nine states still suing Microsoft plan to call an SBC executive as a witness against Microsoft.