Excerpts From Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson’s ruling:
Upon consideration of the court’s findings of fact the court concludes that Microsoft maintained its monopoly power by anti-competitive means and attempted to monopolize the Web browser market, both in violation of Section 2. Microsoft also violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act by unlawfully tying its Web browser to its operating system.
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Microsoft’s campaign succeeded in preventing for several years, and perhaps permanently [rival Netscape’s] Navigator and [Sun Microsystems’] Java from fulfilling their potential to open the market for Intel-compatible PC operating systems to competition on the merits.
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Because Microsoft achieved this result through exclusionary acts that lacked procompetitive justification, the court deems Microsofts conduct the maintenance of monopoly power by anti-competitive means.
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Internet Explorer is not demonstrably the current best of breed Web browser, nor is it likely to be so at any time in the immediate future. The fact that Microsoft itself was aware of this reality only further strengthens the conclusion that Microsoft’s decision to tie Internet Explorer to Windows cannot truly be explained as an attempt to benefit consumers and improve the efficiency of the software market generally, but rather as part of larger campaign to quash innovation that threatened its monopoly position.
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Microsoft successfully pressured Intel, which was dependent in many ways on Microsofts good graces, to abstain from aiding in Suns and Netscape’s Java development work.
Microsoft placed an oppressive thumb on the scale of competitive fortune, thereby effectively guaranteeing its continued dominance in the relevant market.
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The court is nonetheless compelled to express its further conclusion that the predatory course of conduct Microsoft has pursued since June of 1995 has revived the dangerous probability that Microsoft will attain monopoly power in a second market. Internet Explorers share of browser usage has already risen above 50%, will exceed 60% by January 2001.
