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Judge sets contempt hearing in Microsoft antitrust suit
Asks for explanation of browser-system separation
December 19, 1997
Web posted at: 3:15 p.m. EST (2015 GMT)WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A federal judge scheduled a January 13 hearing for arguments on whether Microsoft Corp. is in contempt of court in an antitrust lawsuit.
In U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's December 11 injunction, he ordered Microsoft to quit requiring computer makers to distribute the Internet Explorer browser as a condition of installing its popular Windows operating system software on their PCs.
Friday, Jackson surprised attorneys for both sides -- and a packed courtroom of onlookers -- by announcing that with the help of a courtroom technician, he had just uninstalled the IE browser from a new personal computer on which it was pre-installed.
"This whole process took less than 90 seconds, and by all appearances Windows 95 worked exactly as it was intended," said Jackson.
Microsoft had said that to comply with Jackson's orders, it would offer computer makers a stripped-down version of Windows 95, which doesn't include the Internet Explorer. Or, it said, computer makers could remove the browser from the more recent versions of Windows 95, but then Windows wouldn't work.
Jackson asked one spokesman for each side to explain at the January hearing whether the process of separating the browser from the operating system is really as simple a process as it appeared to him.
Justice vs. Microsoft
The Justice Department charges Microsoft is engaged in anticompetitive practices by marketing the products together, and should be fined $1 million each day it continues the practice. Although it has appealed the ruling, Microsoft insists it is in compliance.
Microsoft was given until December 23 to answer the government's civil contempt charge. The government has until December 29 to respond.
The Justice Department had no comment following Friday's brief court session.
Microsoft Vice President Brad Johnson charged that the government had changed what it is demanding of Microsoft.
"It makes it very difficult for Microsoft to comply with a situation where the government keeps moving the target," he said.
He also said the government's lawyers were not suited to deal with such a highly technical issue.
Government recruits Boies for case
Meanwhile, the Justice Department has hired high-profile New York trial lawyer David Boies to help with the case against the computer giant, department spokesman Michael Gordon said Friday.
In the 1970s, Boies, now 56, helped IBM Corp. successfully defend against a massive government antitrust suit. He also has accepted special government assignments, including in the early 1990s helping represent the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in a suit against junk-bond king Michael Milken that resulted in a $1.1 billion out-of-court settlement.
The government got further support from the Computer and Communications Industry Association.
"The underlying issue is tying and bundling of these products," CCIA president Edward Black said after the hearings. "Microsoft is a great company... Guess what, they have the capability to separate these products."
The CCIA has asked to file a legal brief in support of the Justice Department's position.
Related stories:
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- Rivals unite to fight Microsoft - November 16, 1997
Related sites:
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- 1994 Consent Decree - U.S. Dept. of Justice vs. Microsoft
- Microsoft
- Computer and Communications Industry Association
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