An earlier ruling in the case found that Microsoft had used
illegal tactics to crush competitors, including Netscape which sold
a rival browser, and Sun with its Java software. However, the
Justice Department failed to prove that either Netscape’s Navigator
or Java would have dented Microsoft’s Windows monopoly had
Microsoft’s tactics had been legal.
The Justice Department’s lead lawyer, Phil Beck, said it was
limited in remedy by the previous findings against Microsoft:
“We are constrained by the case we put on
and the case we proved and the case that was upheld by the court of
appeals.”
Judge Collen Kollar-Kotelly was hearing arguments on the
propriety of a deal penned in November 2001 which the parties are
hoping will bring to an end their four-year antitrust battle. She
has the power to rule that the deal is not in the public interest
and can demand changes. Judge Kollar-Kotelly concluded yesterday:
“I have a lot of work ahead of me before I make this decision.”
Nine US states have distanced themselves from the Justice
Department’s deal, arguing that it fails to control Microsoft’s
monopoly. They are continuing their own action against the
company.
