Microsoft Gets Hit With Broad Antitrust Lawsuit

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May 18, 1998 (10:18 AM EDT)

Microsoft Gets Hit With Broad Antitrust Lawsuit

By Mary Mosquera,

The U.S. Justice Department and 20 states slapped Microsoft with a broad antitrust lawsuit in federal court Monday -- including a request for a preliminary injunction that would force the software giant to include Netscape's Navigator browser in its Windows operating system.

"Microsoft has used its monopoly power to develop a chokehold on the Internet," said U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, at a news conference.

Justice charged the Redmond, Wash., software giant with stifling competition, a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, passed in the late 1800s to deal with robber barons.

The lawsuit and preliminary injunction calls for "choice and competition," Reno said, centering on the Internet browser and contracts that limit Microsoft licensees from promoting products other than those of Microsoft and its partners.

"Evidence shows from Bill Gates on down, Microsoft quickly realized the Netscape Navigator posed a real threat," said Joel Klein, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's antitrust division. "Nothing we are doing will prevent Microsoft from competing on its own merits."

The preliminary injunction said if Microsoft does not include the competing Navigator in Windows 98, it must unbundle its own Internet Explorer browser. The injunction also will require Microsoft to release licensees immediately from exclusive contracts, allowing them to promote any products they wish on the initial boot-up screen.

"Microsoft could have avoided this problem if -- knowing our concerns -- they decided not to tie together their browser with their operating system," Klein said.