In a letter to Microsoft which was copied to the Justice Department, Gary Reback, a lawyer for Netscape, accused Microsoft of antitrust violations for placing limits on the number of Internet connections that can be made to a single copy of Microsoft's NT Workstation software.

The limits are specified in Microsoft's customer-licensing agreements.

Reback's letter said the limits impinge on Netscape's ability to sell its own Fastrack Server software product for use with the NT Workstation. (147K WAV) or (147K AIFF)

The complaint is in response to Microsoft's objections to what it contends are deceptive price comparisons used by Netscape, according to Reback. (162K WAV) or (162K AIFF)

Speaking to reporters at the MacWorld Expo in Boston, Mass., Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale said it was absurd for Microsoft to try to impose limits.

"I think it's absurd and we're not going to permit them to limit access...We told them it was restraint of trade," he said.

A spokesman for Microsoft called Netscape's letter a "public relations ploy" and said there was no substance to the claims.

Reback, appearing on CNNfn, said that the real antitrust issue in this matter is the manner in which Microsoft attempts to "catch up" to Netscape in the Internet browser market. (218K WAV) or (218K AIFF)

At the Justice Department, spokesman Bill Brooks told the Associated Press, "We cannot comment on any complaints we may or may not have received." But he repeated that the antitrust division continues its "investigation of the software industry, looking at anticompetitive practices."