Microsoft Case
...suits against the Microsoft Corporation, the issue was not whether the company's industry-dominating Windows software operating system constituted a monopoly. With Windows serving as the command-and-control system for approximately 90 percent of all new personal computers, monopoly power is assumed, and there is nothing illegal about that.
The problem, according to Joel I. Klein, the Justice Department's antitrust chief, is that Microsoft is ''illegally leveraging its Windows monopoly'' in an attempt to squash competition and extend that monopoly to the market for Internet browser software for viewing the World Wide Web. The antitrust laws do not outlaw monopoly or the profits that flow from market power. The various versions of Microsoft's operating systems over the years, including the version, Windows 95, came to dominate the PC industry by legal means. Not only has the company been a remarkably effective marketer, but also consumers tend to like having a single operating system because it guarantees that programs running on one person's computer will also run on almost everyone else's. Computer makers have catered to that customer preference by setting Windows' standard.
Since 1990, a battle has raged in United States courts between the United States government and the Microsoft Corporation out of Redmond, Washington, headed by Bill Gates. The federal government maintains that Microsoft's monopolistic practices are harmful to United States citizens, creating higher prices and potentially downgrading software quality, and should therefore be stopped, while Microsoft and its supporters claim that they are not breaking any laws, and are just doing good business.
The suit marks the beginnings of what legal experts say could be a wave of private litigation against Microsoft. The prospect could put additional pressure on the company to settle the...
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