• Recommend:
• 0 Comments

Microsoft Officially Asks for Dismissal of Suit

Software giant asks court for summary judgment on antitrust lawsuit, but presiding judge says case has merit.

By Elinor Mills, PCWorld   

However, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson indicated last week that he believes the lawsuit has merit and should be heard. Microsoft said in a statement that it hopes the judge will at least expedite the case by dismissing key claims. The trial is scheduled to start September 8 in the Washington, D.C. court.

In its 88-page motion for summary judgment, Microsoft repeatedly cited a court of appeals decision--involving a separate but similar lawsuit--that it said undermined the government's claim that Microsoft is illegally tying its operating system and browser. That court had overturned an injunction preventing Microsoft from forcing computer makers to install Internet Explorer on their Windows 95 systems.

In that decision the appeals court ruled that the two technologies are not separate, but integrated, and that integrating them is not anticompetitive if doing so benefit customers. That ruling, Microsoft said Monday, refutes most of the claims made by the U.S. Department of Justice and the 20 state attorneys general in the lawsuit filed in June.

In addition, neither Microsoft's integration of its browser with its operating system nor its contracts with third parties has "foreclosed Netscape from distributing its Web browsing software to consumers in vast quantities," Microsoft said. Netscape itself has proven this by acknowledging publicly that it has gained 70 million users of its software in less than four years since initially releasing its browser. And according to Microsoft, Netscape plans to distribute more than 100 million copies of its browser this year.

As for Microsoft's contracts with Internet service providers, online service providers, and content providers that the Justice Department said prevented or discouraged the partners from doing business with Microsoft rivals, Microsoft said they never required exclusive distribution of Internet Explorer and didn't interfere with Netscape's business. Although Microsoft said the contracts were completely legal, the company said it waived the provisions criticized by the Justice Department earlier this year.

The Justice Department did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.