News
Microsoft Files Appeal
- By Scott Bekker
- 01/30/2001
The legal saga involving
Microsoft
Corp. and the
U.S. Department of Justice
continued on Monday, with Microsoft filing a 75-page brief with the U.S. Court
of Appeals.
Microsoft’s appeal centered on the DOJ’s January 12 brief,
in which Microsoft contends that the “plaintiffs acknowledged that much of the
conduct they challenge was lawful and procompetitive.”
The Microsoft appeal quoted a portion of the governments
brief which stated that did Microsoft did not violate antitrust laws by “offering
IE to OEMs in a bundle with Windows at no extra charge.” Microsoft also quoted
other parts of the DOJ’s briefs in outlining its reasons foe keeping the
company intact.
The move is the latest step by Microsoft in appealing the
June 7 order by U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson to break the
company into two parts, an operating systems company and an applications
company.
In its response, Microsoft also said that the plan to split
it into two companies would fail and that the breakup is “too great a risk” to
the U.S. economy. – Jim Martin
About the Author
Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.