An earlier ruling in the case found that Microsoft had used illegal tactics to crush competitors, including Netscape which sold a rival browser, and Sun with its Java software. However, the Justice Department failed to prove that either Netscape’s Navigator or Java would have dented Microsoft’s Windows monopoly had Microsoft’s tactics had been legal.
The Justice Department’s lead lawyer, Phil Beck, said it was limited in remedy by the previous findings against Microsoft:
“We are constrained by the case we put on and the case we proved and the case that was upheld by the court of appeals.”
Judge Collen Kollar-Kotelly was hearing arguments on the propriety of a deal penned in November 2001 which the parties are hoping will bring to an end their four-year antitrust battle. She has the power to rule that the deal is not in the public interest and can demand changes. Judge Kollar-Kotelly concluded yesterday: “I have a lot of work ahead of me before I make this decision.”
Nine US states have distanced themselves from the Justice Department’s deal, arguing that it fails to control Microsoft’s monopoly. They are continuing their own action against the company.