18 May 1998: U.S. DoJ Files Antitrust Case Against Microsoft
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Brian Valentine, Senior Vice President, Windows Core Operating System Division and Kevin Johnson, Group Vice President, Worldwide Sales, Marketing and Services announce Windows Vista at the Microsoft Global Business Conference (MGB) in Atlanta, Ga., on Thursday, July 21, 2005.
Image source: Microsoft Corp.
Image source: Microsoft Corp.
Via Wikipedia.
United States v. Microsoft 87 F. Supp. 2d 30 (D.D.C. 2000) was a court case filed against Microsoft Corporation on May 18, 1998 by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and twenty U.S. states. Joel I. Klein was the lead prosecutor.
The plaintiffs alleged that Microsoft abused monopoly power in its handling of operating system sales and web browser sales. The issue central to the case was whether Microsoft was allowed to bundle its flagship Internet Explorer (IE) web browser software with its Microsoft Windows operating system. Bundling them together is alleged to have been responsible for Microsoft's victory in the browser wars as every Windows user had a copy of Internet Explorer.
It was further alleged that this unfairly restricted the market for competing web browsers (such as Netscape Navigator) that were slow to download over a modem or had to be purchased at a store. Underlying these disputes were questions over whether Microsoft altered or manipulated its application programming interfaces (APIs) to favor Internet Explorer over third party web browsers, Microsoft's conduct in forming restrictive licensing agreements with OEM computer manufacturers, and Microsoft's intent in its course of conduct.
Microsoft stated that the merging of Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer was the result of innovation and competition, and that the two were now the same product and were inextricably linked together and that consumers were now getting all the benefits of IE for free.
Those who opposed Microsoft's position countered that the browser was still a distinct and separate product which didn't need to be tied to the operating system, since a separate version of Internet Explorer was available for Mac OS. They also asserted that IE was not really free, because its development and marketing costs may have kept the price of Windows higher than it might otherwise have been.
The case was tried before U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson. The DOJ was initially represented by David Boies.