The appeals court threw out Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's proposed remedy, the break-up of Microsoft, while partly accepting his diagnosis as to the company's activities. It said that the judge had engaged in serious misconduct, and had tainted the proceedings by giving secret interviews to the media and by personally attacking Microsoft personnel, especially its founder, Bill Gates. He'd ordered the case back to the lower court with a different judge.

remedy - a successful way of dealing with a problem

break-up - the division of a business into smaller parts

misconduct - bad behaviour especially by a professional person, like a judge

tainted - spoiled

proceedings - legal action which is taken against a person or a company.

personnel - the people who work for a particular business or organisation.

However, it gave a mixed verdict on Microsoft itself. It rejected the judges findings that the company had tried to monopolise the internet browser market, but did accept that it had acted unlawfully over its operating system. Microsoft welcomed the overall decision, but so did the Department of Justice, each praising those aspects favourable to itself. The outcome is likely to be that Microsoft will have to pay for its misdeeds, but this might now be settled out of court, and the company might not be broken up.

verdict - the decision at the end of a trial in a court of law

findings - the conclusions which are come to after hearing the facts

monopolise - to have a large share of a market and prevent other companies from having their share

The outcome - the result

misdeeds - something bad which a person or organisation has done

settled out of court - agree to end a disagreement or dispute without going to a court of law, or not waiting for a court's decision; for example by offering to pay money to the other person