A federal appeals court in Washington D.C. will soon decide whether, as the federal government contends, Microsoft is an illegal monopoly. The court is reviewing the ruling of trial judge Thomas Penfield Jackson that Microsoft violated federal anti-trust laws. He has determined Microsoft should suffer the severest penalty possible: the break-up of the company.
In a companion Policy Note we point out a number of serious procedural errors that occurred during the trial that on their own should be enough to induce the appeals court to overturn Judge Jackson’s ruling. Here we will examine the merits of the case itself and the claims that were made against Microsoft that prompted the government to pursue Microsoft in the first place. Our research finds that events since the case started show that the most dire predictions made about Microsoft’s supposed dominance of the market are entirely unfounded.
Read the full Policy Note here