Judge Declares Microsoft A Monopoly :: essays research papers

On November 5, 1999, District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson declargond nonpareil of the leading software companies in the world, a monopoly. The United States government has what are called, antimonopoly laws, which prevent a company from having a monopoly on a market. The US charged Microsoft with violations of these laws, stating that they were thwarting such competitors as, Netscape Navigator, and other web browsers. The US justice department has accused Microsoft of being "engaged in ample anticompetitive practices." Bill Gates, owner of Microsoft, believes that the practices of Microsoft are in no way that of a monopoly, and are just forms of very aggressive competition. It is estimated that any sanctions that Microsoft faces will be appealed for age to come, prolonging this case. Judge Penfield has not ruled on whether Microsoft has broken the antitrust laws set forth by the government and it will be years before the judge sets the penalties for these infractions. T he decision of Jackson was announced after the law of closure of the stock market, and the market is closed for a week after this decision. This is technical news, because many economists feared a large dive due to this recent decision. The coquet evaluated thousands of pages of electronic mail, and 76 days of testimony, and came to the conclusion that Microsoft was partaking in anticompetitive practices. Jackson verbalize that "Microsoft has demonstrated that it will use its prodigious market power and spacious profits to harm any firm that insists on pursuing initiatives that could come forward competition." The government will continue this case against Microsoft and continue to push for the penalties to be presented to the corporate giant.