U.S. Govt. rejects Microsoft's remedies

WASHINGTON, MAY 18. The U.S. Government dismissed as "neither serious nor sensible" a plan proposed by Microsoft to remedy the anti-trust violations a court said the company had committed.

The justice department and a coalition of 17 States on Wednesday told U.S. district court judge Mr. Thomas Penfield Jackson in a 70-page memorandum that Microsoft's proposal was nothing more than "a cosmetic remedy that would have virtually no competitive significance." "It would neither undo the harm that Microsoft inflicted on competition nor prevent Microsoft from illegally using its monopoly power to inflict similar harm in the future."

It said, "the proposed remedy is neither serious nor sensible" and reiterated its call for the software giant to be broken up.

The department was responding to remedies submitted by Microsoft a week ago to Jackson, who on April 3 upheld government charges that the company violated federal law by exploiting the monopoly position its windows operating system enjoys in the personal computer market to stifle competition.

Mr. Jackson also found that Microsoft had illegally sought to dominate the market for Internet browsers.

- AFP

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Section  : Business
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