Justice Says No Decision Yet On New Microsoft Case

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April 06, 1998 (12:47 PM EDT)

Justice Says No Decision Yet On New Microsoft Case

By Mary Mosquera,

The Department of Justice may slap more antitrust charges against Microsoft -- this time, on the company's Windows 98 operating system.

But Justice said Monday that it had not decided on whether it has enough evidence to launch a parallel antitrust case against Microsoft over its newest OS. However, there is speculation that regulators will mount their case quickly as the May 15 Win 98 shipping date for computer makers draws near.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that sources at the Justice Department said it will bring another antitrust case by the end of April against Microsoft (company profile) for its bundled Win 98 software. Houston-based PC maker Compaq confirmed it had received another civil subpoena from Justice for more information.

Oral arguments start April 21 in Microsoft's appeal of the ruling to separate its Internet Explorer browser software from its Win 95 operating system in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

"No decision has been made," said Justice Department spokesman Michael Gordon, on whether the feds would launch an antitrust case against the Redmond, Wash., company involving its Win 98 system. When Justice is investigating a case, however, it keeps up communications with the company "to try to avoid a court battle," Gordon said.

Microsoft did not return calls about whether it had been in contact with the Justice Department over a new antitrust case.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's brand reputation is beginning to dim among its business clients and consumers, said a research company in a survey of positive and negative opinions about brand names. Techtel, which has surveyed 900 computer users each quarter since 1992, said positive opinions about the software monolith by business customers slipped about 12 percent in 1997 -- its first notable decline since the survey began. Among consumers, positive opinion fell 5 percentage points in the October-through-December quarter of 1997.

"This shift is a sign," said Michael Kelly, CEO of Techtel, in Emeryville, Calif. "We have found there is a relationship between brand and opinion and stock price and long-term profitability," he said. Kelly said he expected to see some greater effect in software buying habits by now, but there hasn't been any in the Microsoft case.

Microsoft also recently said it expected better quarterly results than previously anticipated.