Microsoft Says Misconduct Claims Are Irrelevant to Case

Microsoft Corp. said Tuesday that allegations it bullied Intel Corp., Apple Computer Inc. and others are irrelevant to a landmark government antitrust case against the software giant.

In a 48-page brief reiterating its demand that the case be dismissed, Microsoft said the latest allegations of misconduct have been raised by state and federal antitrust regulators because of “fatal shortcomings” in their original complaint brought last May.

“The central facts of the case and the overwhelming body of law support Microsoft’s position,” said William Neukom, Microsoft’s senior vice president for law and corporate affairs.

Government documents filed in preparation for a trial set to begin Sept. 23 allege a pattern of anti-competitive behavior, including a successful effort to strong-arm chip maker Intel, its closest ally in the industry.

The government also intends to present evidence at trial that Microsoft pressured Apple and software maker Real Networks Inc. to change their approach on key Internet multimedia standards.

But Microsoft contended that even if true, such allegations have no relevance to the original antitrust complaint, which charged that the Redmond, Wash.-based company improperly used its dominant Windows operating system to gain a stronghold in the market for Internet browsing software.

In the brief, Microsoft said recent government filings have tried to “distract the Court from the fatal defects in their claims by slinging as much mud as they can at the defendant and by giving prominence to numerous irrelevant facts in a desperate attempt to cloud the issues.”

“Microsoft’s reply is nothing new,” said an official of the Justice Department. “We look forward to proving at the upcoming trial that Microsoft engaged in a series of anti- competitive acts to maintain its operating system monopoly and to extend that monopoly to Internet browsers.”

Lawyers in the case will meet in court Friday for oral arguments on the issue of dismissing some or all of the antitrust claims before trial.