Judge Scolds Microsoft in Antitrust Case
U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson on Tuesday sharply criticized key arguments presented by Microsoft Corp. in its landmark antitrust struggle with the Justice Department.
On three occasions during the company’s opening statement at a hearing on the issue, Jackson challenged Microsoft’s focus on wording used by the Justice Department in court filings. Instead, Jackson said, the arguments should center on his Dec. 11 order restraining the company’s marketing practices for its Internet Explorer browser.
“It is my language, and my language alone, which is at issue here,” Jackson told Microsoft’s lead trial attorney, Richard Urowsky.
The hearing, which will conclude today, is to determine whether Microsoft should be found in contempt of court for defying the judge’s earlier order. The Justice Department charges that Microsoft violated that order, which said the company could no longer require personal computer makers to install Internet Explorer as a condition for obtaining the company’s Windows 95 operating system.
Microsoft says it complied with the specific language of the order when it offered computer makers two options, including the right to delete all Internet Explorer files--an action that disables the entire computer. Microsoft argues that once the government realized what would happen, it shifted position and asked only that the visible signs of Explorer be removed using a special Windows function.
“The government got what it wanted knowing full well what the consequences would be,” Urowsky said in his opening statements. “It is the government, not Microsoft, that is the cause of any confusion in the mind of the court or in the view of the public.”
But Jackson suggested he wouldn’t let Microsoft challenge the government’s consistency to buttress its case.
“As has been said, consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,” Jackson said. “And I bring you back to my language.” Jackson further questioned why Microsoft didn’t seek clarification from the court if it found his order unclear. Government lawyers want Microsoft held in contempt for allegedly defying Jackson’s order. The government is seeking $1 million in fines for each day Microsoft is in contempt.
Shares of Microsoft rose $2.63 to close at $132.13 in Nasdaq trading.
