|
Microsoft appeals ruling
|
 |
December 15, 1997: 8:36 p.m. ET
Company says it will comply with injunction until final decision
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Microsoft Corp. Monday said it will appeal a federal judge's ruling that ordered the company to temporarily stop requiring computer makers to distribute its Internet browser with the Windows 95 operating system.
In a statement, Microsoft said it would comply with the preliminary injunction while it is on appeal.
Late last week, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issued the temporary injunction to give him more time to study the matter. However, he declined the government's request to hold Microsoft in contempt and impose a fine of $1 million a day on the software giant.
A ruling in the case isn't expected until early summer.
Microsoft said it plans to argue that Jackson was wrong to impose the injunction after denying the Justice Department's petition to hold Microsoft in contempt.
"The matter before the court was whether Microsoft could be held in contempt for violating a consent decree entered in 1995," said William Neukom, Microsoft's senior vice president for law and corporate affairs. "The court denied the Justice Department's petition for contempt; the case should have ended there. But on its own initiative, the court proceeded to treat the matter as a tying case and, without giving Microsoft notice or an opportunity to defend itself, issued a preliminary injunction."
In his ruling, the judge said forcing Microsoft to keep Windows 95 separate from Internet Explorer would not impose a substantial burden on the company since the two products are already marketed separately.
However, Microsoft said the browser functions contained in Internet Explorer have quickly become a critical part of the Windows operating system, and separating them would undercut Microsoft's ability to provide competitive products.
"This preliminary injunction threatens every American technology company's right to innovate and define what goes into its products," Neukom said. "The ruling puts the government into the middle of complex product design issues in an industry that, for more than 20 years, has experienced incredible growth, innovation and competition - without government intervention."
Some industry analysts suggested Jackson's ruling could delay the launch of the Windows 98 operating system upgrade due out in the second quarter of 1998.
However, Microsoft officials said they planned to proceed on schedule with the launch of Windows 98.
"We are developing Windows 98 and moving forward full steam ahead with that for release in calendar Q2," Microsoft vice president Brad Chase said in a conference call with reporters and industry analysts.
Meanwhile, the company said it would provide personal computer makers three options:
- They may continue to ship the full Windows 95 product, including its Internet Explorer features.
- They may remove from Windows 95 all the files that are included in the retail version of Internet Explorer 3.0 with the warning from Microsoft that the stripped-down version will not operate or perform as originally designed.
- Or they can license the August 1995 version of Windows 95 with all of the Internet Explorer functions stripped out.
In an interview on CNNfn's Digital Jam Monday, Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Bob Herbold said at least one PC maker has already told Microsoft they want the latest version operating system, complete with the integrated browser. (260K WAV) or (260K AIFF)
The U.S. Justice Department responded to Microsoft's statement by charging the proposed actions violate the court's order.
"We don't think they've announced a course of conduct that complies with the court's order," an unidentified Justice Department official told Reuters.
The department did not say what action the government would announce next.
The Justice Department filed suit against Microsoft Oct. 20 charging the software giant was trying to use its dominance of the operating system software to force computer makers to feature its Explorer browser as the default browser.
In a partial victory for Microsoft, Jackson said Microsoft had the right to require PC makers and other companies it does business with to sign non-disclosure agreements to protect confidential information.
The government had argued that those agreements hindered its ability to investigate the alleged antitrust violations.
Critics claim because Microsoft shipped the Internet Explorer separately from its Windows 95 software, the browser should not be considered an integrated part of the operating system.
However, Herbold said the current version of Windows 95 shares a lot of the same "code" with Internet Explorer. (389K WAV) or (389K AIFF).
The U.S. Justice Department had asked the court to hold Microsoft in contempt for alleged anti-competitive behavior in the Internet browser market. 
-- by staff and wire reports
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
