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Microsoft, U.S. square off
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May 22, 1998: 7:33 a.m. ET
Judge to set schedule in antitrust hearing; Microsoft wants delay
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Microsoft Corp. and the U.S. government to stepped into the legal ring Friday for the first round in their antitrust case.
In Washington on Friday, Federal District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson started proceedings to set a schedule for an antitrust case that pits 20 states and the Justice Department against Microsoft.
The judge will also decide whether to grant the government call for a preliminary injunction against Microsoft. That would force Microsoft to offer a rival web browser alongside in its Windows operating system - or no browser at all.
But Microsoft, insisting it needs time to prepare, is asking the judge to delay for seven months the government's demand for changes in the company's Windows 98 operating system.
Legal experts said it's unlikely Judge Jackson will honor that request. But if he does it would signal a major victory for Microsoft.
"It would be a major step," said Brooklyn Law School associate dean Spencer Waller, an expert in antitrust law. "If they get the delay that they are seeking, their product will be out in the marketplace. It will be much harder for the government to get an injunction seven, eight months down the road, which is what they are seeking."
"This judge is not inclined to delay based on how he has handled the case in the past," added Waller.
Jackson was the judge who issued the preliminary injunction last December which prohibited Microsoft from forcing computer makers to include the Internet Explorer Web browser in each copy of Windows 95 installed on their machines.
A lengthy trial could also favor Microsoft financially. Windows 98, which is now being shipped to computer makers, is due to arrive on store shelves on June 25.
A seven-month delay could ensure strong sales of the product in its current form, with Internet Explorer integrated into the operating system.
In its motion for delay, Microsoft said the government spent two years on investigations before filing thousands of pages of documents Monday, when the suits were officially filed in what could the biggest antitrust action in more than a generation.
Microsoft said it has not had ample time to review all the documents or "cross-examine any of the third parties" who submitted affidavits to federal regulators.
The Justice Department's complaint included excerpts of testimony from several computer makers supporting the government's claim that Microsoft has a stranglehold on the industry through its Windows operating system.
Microsoft is asking for 60 days to obtain documents from third parties and review the documents submitted by the government, 120 days to interview computer industry executives and 30 days to file its response to the government's request for a preliminary injunction.
The government's request for a preliminary injunction calls for Microsoft either to ship a version of Windows 98 without the Internet Explorer or one that includes the rival Navigator browser from Netscape Communications Corp.
In its motion, Microsoft labeled Netscape "the Microsoft competitor whose interests the DOJ and the states are expressly seeking to advance."
Microsoft proposed that after seven months, the Justice Department and the states would then have two weeks to file their replies.
In a separate motion Thursday, Microsoft asked the court to roll together the two suits into one filing because they are based on the "same factual allegations and legal theories." It also said the Justice Department and the states worked "arm-in-arm" to build their cases.
Shares of Microsoft (MSFT) closed at 86-3/8, up 5/8 on Thursday.
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