Federal Judge Issues Microsoft Decision

  11/05/99

  WASHINGTON - The federal judge overseeing the landmark
  Microsoft Corp. antitrust trial said Microsoft has monopoly
  powers in personal computer operating systems, in a
  tremendous legal blow for the software giant.

  He also said the company took steps to preserve that
  position, a finding that could lead to still more severe
  problems for the software giant.

  The thick document of findings from Judge Thomas Penfield
  Jackson will pave the way for a ruling expected in the coming
  months on whether the facts demonstrate violation of antitrust
  law. His findings from the high-profile contest between the
  world's largest software company and the U.S. government
  also could provide a foundation for defining boundaries for
  corporate behavior into the future.

  Government officials said they were pleased with the ruling,
  and planned to press hard for remedies.

  "This is truly an important victory for American consumers
  and the American economy," said Assistant Attorney General
  Joel I. Klein. He said the ruling showed that "no person and
  no company is above the law."

  News organizations and lawyers for the U.S. Justice
  Department and Microsoft immediately scooped up copies of
  the ruling, which contain Jackson's "findings of fact" from the
  76-day trial.

  The Justice Department and 19 states had alleged Microsoft
  used a monopoly in the operating systems for personal
  computers to crush rival Internet browser-maker Netscape and
  expand its dominance into other areas.

  Microsoft, based in Redmond, Wash., argued throughout the
  trial that its strength in operating systems did not amount to a
  monopoly and that it had fought hard but within the law to
  keep ahead of its competition.

  Under U.S. law, it is not illegal to acquire a monopoly through
  better products or luck, but it is illegal to use that dominance
  to maintain the monopoly or gain monopoly power in new
  areas.

  The law holds companies with monopoly power to a stricter
  standard of behavior than other firms because competition is
  not available to check their actions.

  If Jackson, in the coming months, finds Microsoft violated
  antitrust law, he would then go on to decide on possible
  remedies, which could range from restrictions on the way it
  does business to breaking up the company.

  After Jackson makes a final judgment, both sides could
  appeal, possibly all the way up to the Supreme Court, likely
  stretching the case out for several years.