Subject: Justice May Bring New Microsoft Charges - WSJ
Keith Quigley (Q@Whoever.com)
Date: Mon, 06 Apr 1998 16:53:15 -0500
Message-Id: <35294ECB.8564D123@Whoever.com> Date: Mon, 06 Apr 1998 16:53:15 -0500 From: Keith Quigley <Q@Whoever.com> To: Roundtable <roundtable@cni.org> Subject: Justice May Bring New Microsoft Charges - WSJ
Justice May Bring New Microsoft Charges - WSJ
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Justice Department investigators believe they
have enough evidence to bring a new antitrust case against
Microsoft before the end of the month, The Wall Street Journal
reported today.
The new case, if it went forward, would allege "illegal maintenance
and extension" of Microsoft's control of personal- computer
operating software, in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, the
Journal said, citing unnamed people close to the probe.
It also would repeat an existing charge that Microsoft violated a
1995 antitrust settlement by "bundling" Internet software with
Windows, extending to Windows 98 a 1997 charge that Microsoft used
Windows as a weapon against business rivals, the newspaper
said.
The investigators were taking final depositions from senior Microsoft
officials and issued new civil subpoenas last week to major
personal computer makers, including Compaq Computer, company spokesmen
told the newspaper.
They were racing to complete their work before Microsoft's planned
May 15 release to computer makers of Windows 98, the next
version of its PC operating software, the Journal said.
If the case moved forward, prosecutors were expected to ask a
federal court for immediate temporary restrictions on Microsoft's
practices plus unspecified permanent sanctions, the newspaper said.
The temporary restrictions are likely to include a requirement that
Microsoft give PC makers a choice of whether to install Windows 98
with or without Microsoft's Internet software, as well as relief from
alleged exclusionary contract terms imposed on PC makers and
companies that provide Internet services, the Journal said.
Antitrust chief Joel Klein was weighing legal tactics and had not
decided whether to file a new case, the paper newspaper said. Klein
is expected to give Microsoft's lawyers a final opportunity to head
off new charges against the company in a face-to-face meeting late next
week.
Posted by:
Keith Quigley
<q@whoever.com>
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