Fighting Back: Bill Gates, chairman and CEO of Microsoft. JEFF CHRISTENSEN/REUTERS From: Dec. 15, 1997 REDMOND: Microsoft isn't saying U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson made the wrong decision. It's just that nobody asked him for one. The software colossus lodged an appeal Monday against Jackson's preliminary injunction -- on the grounds that the judge overstepped his authority. "The matter before the court was whether Microsoft could be held in contempt for violating a consent decree entered in 1995," William H. Neukom, Microsoft's senior vice president for law and corporate affairs said Monday. Jackson said no to that, and that was fine by Bill. But, Neukom adds, Jackson's court went too far when it ordered the unbundling of Internet Explorer from Windows 95 "on its own initiative" and "without giving Microsoft notice or an opportunity to defend itself." Graciously, Microsoft a nnounced that it will comply with the disputed injunction while the appeal is heard. -- Frank Pellegrini More on this subject: Target: Microsoft