ANTITRUST
Microsoft's Illegal Monopoly (NYT)
Is a Breakup Next? Not Likely(WSJ)
The Verdict (WP)
U.S. Judge Says Microsoft Violated Antitrust Laws With Predatory
Behavior (NYT)
Still Worth Settling(WP)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
Gore Denounces Disparities in Minority Access to Computers (NYT)
INTERNET
Foes of Internet Tax Ban Vow to Fight On (NYT)
BROADBAND
High-Bandwidth Standards Being Crafted (WSJ)
TELEPHONY
Bell Atlantic, GTE Announce Name of Combined Firm (WSJ)
Competitors of Telmex Say It Still Acts Like a Monopoly (NYT)
ADVERTISING
Biotech Ad Campaign Attempts to Shape US Attitudes Toward Modified
Crops (WSJ)
ANTITRUST
U.S. JUDGE SAYS MICROSOFT VIOLATED ANTITRUST LAWS WITH PREDATORY
BEHAVIOR
Issue: Antitrust
The judge, Thomas Penfield Jackson of United States District Court, has
sided with the government on the most important points in its
exhaustive antitrust suit against Microsoft. In the ruling, which
Microsoft said it would appeal, the judge wrote that "the court
concludes that Microsoft maintained its monopoly power by
anticompetitive means and attempted to monopolize the Web browser
market," as well as "unlawfully tying its Web browser to its operating
system" -- all in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The judge,
however, surprised lawyers on both sides by ruling that Microsoft's
marketing arrangements with other companies to promote its Web browser
at Netscape's expense did not violate the law. Options for remedies
range from imposing restrictions on Microsoft's conduct to breaking up
the company. Many state and federal officials are interested in
requesting a breakup, said sources close to the case. Both Microsoft
and the government said they remained open to the idea of restarting
settlement talks.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A1), AUTHOR: Joel Brinkley]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/biztech/articles/04soft.html
)
THE VERDICT
Issue: Anti-Trust
Nearly everyone had an opinion about the Microsoft verdict handed down
yesterday by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson (Were
you sleeping?). On the newsgroup alt.destroy.microsoft, Robert Lyday of
Oakhurst, Calif., wrote ""M$ stock is getting hammered today! It's off
15 1/8 points! I haven't seen it hit that hard in a long time!
Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!" Many comments were more subdued,
however. "The government's case stands on the shifting sands of a
rapidly changing marketplace," House Majority Leader Richard K. Armey
(R-Tex.) said in a statement supporting Microsoft's vow to appeal.
Microsoft's competitors also weighed in. "Microsoft's predacious
behavior is finally being recognized and condemned," said Michael
Morris, general counsel of Sun Microsystems Inc. Shoppers at CompUSA on
Rockville Pike, near Washington, DC, put in their two cents worth,
coming out on both sides of the case. "It was a total waste of
taxpayers' dollars," said Michael Berman, 50, a biotech executive who
was shopping in the store with his high-school-age daughter. "Microsoft
was super competitive. Their products are great." Another shopper had a
different view. "Microsoft has been a savage predator in the software
industry," said Pat Clawson, president of a small Internet software
company in Winchester, Va. "It's high time they had to respect the same
laws as the rest of us do."
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A17), AUTHOR: John Schwartz and Peter S.
Goodman]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2903-2000Apr3.html)
IS A BREAKUP NEXT? NOT LIKELY.
Issue: Antitrust
[Op-Ed] In his "findings of fact" last November, Judge Thomas Penfield
Jackson concluded that Microsoft had a monopoly in operating systems
for Intel-based computers. In yesterday's "conclusions of law", he
ruled - to no one's surprise - that Microsoft had violated antitrust
laws. The question is, what will be the remedy? Since forced breakups
are rare, it's unlikely that Judge Jackson will order one. What is more
likely is a "future conduct" injunction that will force Microsoft to
open up the interfaces that define how Windows interacts with other
programs, and limit Microsoft's freedom to set prices and conditions of
use. The new information-centered markets seem to focus on interfaces
and which player dominates each one: operating systems (Windows),
browser(Explorer), Internet service(AOL), search engine(Yahoo!) and
various e-commerce and content applications(e.g., Amazon). The best
hope for competition seems to lie in making sure that different firms
come to dominate different interfaces. The irony is that the Windows-
Intel desktop is in decline and that users are moving to running their
"net appliances" and "personal digital assistants" on stripped-down
non-Windows operating systems. But doesn't this mean the case was a
waste of time? Not at all. For "operating system" and "browser" you can
substitute any number of other hardware/software or software/software
pairs that define the interfaces of the new digital economy: "cable
programming" (like CNN) and "distribution channel" (Time Warner Cable);
or "airline reservation system" and "airline". In due course, many of
these software-defined interfaces might end up in court.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A26), AUTHOR: Peter Huber]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB954806268381884149.htm)
MICROSOFT'S ILLEGAL MONOPOLY
Issue: Antitrust
[Editorial] Now that Thomas Penfield Jackson has ruled that Microsoft
illegally used its monopoly over Windows to get consumers to use its
browser, he has the difficult task of devising a remedy. According to
the authors, his challenge is compounded with no one solution being
completely appropriate for the ruling. The judge could require Microsoft
to publish all the technical information that software companies need to
make their programs work smoothly with Windows. But such a remedy would
do nothing to address the government's core accusation: that
Microsoft's illegal acts eliminated potential competition in the market
for operating systems. Judge Jackson might then chose a structural
remedy that would go the final step -- breaking up Microsoft into separate
companies. "The advantage of this remedy," write the authors, "is that
it would break Microsoft's monopoly choke hold and avoid the need for
constant government oversight."
[SOURCE: New York Times (A30), AUTHOR: New York Times Editorial Staff]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/04tue1.html)
STILL WORTH SETTLING
Issue: Anti-Trust
[Editorial] The Washington Post laments the failure of settlement talks
in the Microsoft anti-trust case, saying that a ruling will be bad both
for the public and the company. "For the public," the editorial says,
"it means that remedies to rein in the company's market power and
behavior will be delayed." For the company, the Post says, a ruling
merely delays the period of uncertainty about its future. The Post also
hints that the blame for the failure of the talks rests with the 19
state attorneys general involved in the case. The editorial quotes
Judge Richard Posner, mediator in the settlement talks, as saying "the
collapse of the mediation is not due to any lack of skill, flexibility,
energy, determination, or professionalism on the part of the Department
of Justice and Microsoft Corporation." The Post cites the judge's
failure to mention the attorneys general as an indication of their
complicity in the failure. The Post reiterates its support of further
settlement talks saying, "[e]ven with Judge Jackson's findings,
settlement is still the best way to resolve this matter--and the search
for one ought to go on. Both sides have a lot to lose by litigating
this matter to the end."
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A28), AUTHOR: Post Editorial Staff]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5642-2000Apr3.html)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
GORE DENOUNCES DISPARITIES IN MINORITY ACCESS TO COMPUTERS
Issue: Digital Divide
Speaking yesterday on the eve of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s death
to about 500 students at Morehouse College (Dr. King's alma mater), Vice
President Al Gore called for programs to narrow the digital divide. Noting
the existence of high-paying jobs that are left unfilled because of an
inadequate training, even as "we have hundreds of thousands and millions who
have the ability, the curiosity, the desire to learn and to succeed but have
not had the opportunity and the access." The Vice President proposed a few
solutions: 1)government financed Internet computers in every classroom and
library; 2) training for teachers in the technologies and integrating tech
into their curriculums; 3)computer learning centers in needy communities
and; 4) Internet access for every household. Gore also said that the nation
should commit to a goal of every student being computer literate by the
eighth grade. Gore's remarks echoed other government officials who fear that
the computer divide may exacerbate the existing racial disparities in
education, employment and income. Though studies are showing that Internet
access is expanding rapidly, the persistent gaps in access based on income,
race, education level and region are still cause for national concern.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A12), AUTHOR: Kevin Sack]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/040400wh-dem-gore.html)
INTERNET
FOES OF INTERNET TAX BAN VOW TO FIGHT ON
Issue: Internet Taxes
Although the committee formed to investigate the issue of taxes on
sales over the Internet voted 10-8 last week to extend the ban on
Internet sales taxes for another 5 years, state and local groups
opposed to the tax ban are continuing their fight. On Friday, the
several groups, including the National Association of Counties, the
United States Conference of Mayors and the National Governors
Association will hold a news conference to criticize both the report
and the tactics of the committee's chair, Gov. James Gilmore of
Virginia. The organizations fear that banning taxes on Internet sales
will harm states and localities by reducing the revenue collected
through taxes on sales by traditional retailers.
[SOURCE: New York Times (Cyber Times), AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/cyber/capital/04capital.html
)
BROADBAND
HIGH-BANDWIDTH STANDARDS BEING CRAFTED
Issue: Broadband
More than 30 telecommunications and Internet companies are expected to
announce plans to establish industry standards for sending video, phone
calls and other data-intensive traffic through communications networks.
The companies are seeking to accelerate a change in the way computers
access the Internet, partly by storing high-bandwidth data content in
so-called co-location centers near Internet service providers. Nortel
Networks, AT&T's Broadband & Internet unit, NBC Internet, Qwest
Communications, Sun Microsystems, and British Telecommunications,
Akamai Technologies, Bertelsmann, and Hewlett-Packard, among other
companies, are members. The group is called the Broadband Content
Delivery Forum and will hold its first formal meeting in Orlando,
Florida next month.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B10), AUTHOR: Mark Heinzl]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB954797033296523157.htm)
TELEPHONY
COMPETITORS OF TELMEX SAY IT STILL ACTS LIKE A MONOPOLY
Issue: Competition
Since the former state owned Mexican telecommunications monopoly,
Tel