State seeks to extend curbs on Microsoft
California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown wants to keep Microsoft Corp. on probation.
A key portion of a consent decree that has forced Microsoft to play by business rules different from other companies’ since 2002 is set to quietly expire Nov. 12.
Brown plans to ask a federal judge to extend those terms, arguing that they have yet to reduce Microsoft’s enormous clout in key markets that they were designed to open up. That request could come as soon as today.
“The same power relationships [exist] today as were true before this whole case began, and the purpose of the antitrust law is to increase competition,” Brown said.
The rules binding Microsoft’s conduct stem from a settlement agreement between the Justice Department and the Redmond, Wash., software giant after a long antitrust battle.
Expiring this fall is a key section designed to stop Microsoft from retaliating against computer makers that bundle competing software products on new personal computers.
Among other things, the decree established a procedure for court-appointed officials to investigate any complaints from computer makers that Microsoft treated them differently if they didn’t install its products on PCs.
The landscape has changed since Microsoft was found to have abused its monopoly power in computer operating systems. The company faces serious competitive threats from Google Inc. and other Internet powerhouses that weren’t on the horizon when the case was settled. And many computer makers install products from such Microsoft rivals as RealNetworks Inc.
But one thing hasn’t changed: Microsoft continues to dominate the world of desktop computing, both with its operating system and with smaller programs that typically come pre-installed.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who is overseeing the case, said this year that she didn’t want last-minute objections to the end of the restrictions. So Microsoft’s foes aren’t waiting until November to voice their concerns.
Brown declined to reveal specifics about what his legal objection would say. But he said, “It appears that things have not changed all that much” in terms of Microsoft’s power in the marketplace.
“Our lawyers agree that the decree has not been all that effective,” Brown said.
If the request doesn’t come in today’s papers, it probably will before or during a Sept. 11 hearing in Kollar-Kotelly’s court, people involved with the case said.
The landmark antitrust case against Microsoft had been pursued aggressively by the Justice Department under former President Clinton, joined by more than a dozen states. They argued that Microsoft had abused its operating system monopoly to push its Explorer Web browser and Windows media player on the computer companies that passed those products on to the public.
After President Bush was elected, new officials in the Justice Department settled the case. Another section of the consent decree included in that settlement, requiring Microsoft to disclose how some of its software works, has already been extended through 2009.
California and some other states objected to the terms of the initial settlement and have since complained about its ineffectiveness at regular intervals.
California will probably be joined by some other states in asking that the terms of the decree be extended.
Microsoft and the Justice Department, on the other hand, will argue that the retaliation portion of the decree has served its purpose and that the marketplace has evolved to the point where special rules are no longer necessary, people in the case said.
“We take our responsibilities very seriously, and we’re committed to being principled and transparent as we develop new versions of Windows,” Microsoft spokesman Jack Evans said.
A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.
Google, which got involved in the case this year during a spat over Microsoft’s desktop search function, is already on record as saying the terms should be extended. The Mountain View, Calif., company may flesh out that argument before November. Executives there declined to comment Wednesday.
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