EU Microsoft case could be decided...

Before September...It appears that Judges in the EU take even longer than judges here in this country after reading this article:

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - The judge due to rule on Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)'s appeal against the European Commission's antitrust order said Monday he hoped to publish his decision before he leaves office in September.

Bo Vesterdorf, the president of the Court of First Instance, refused to give a precise deadline for his ruling.

"Obviously we would do our very best to get the case out as soon as at all possible," he told reporters at an Informa legal conference in Brussels. "It's a very big case."

Nor is this the end of the case since it's a given that whichever side loses is going to file an appeal and there is one court left that would be the "final" decision, the European Court of Justice. I can fully understand the need to carefully evaluate the facts but what if the judge doesn't publish his decision before he leaves in September? Then what? Starting all over again with a different judge?