US government raises stakes in Microsoft case

The US Justice Department has raised the stakes in its antitrust case against Microsoft, the world leader in personal computer software, with broad new allegations of attempts to stymie competition.

After nine years of antitrust investigations and litigation, Microsoft is now facing broad charges that it has, on several occasions, adopted illegal tactics in its attempts to maintain a dominant position in the personal computer software market.

In a court filing on Tuesday, the department said the company engaged in "a broad pattern of anti-competitive conduct designed to eliminate competition, to maintain and strengthen Microsoft's core monopoly over PC operating systems, and to monopolise key applications markets".

The case, which initially focussed on the so-called "browser wars" between Microsoft and Netscape Communications - the battle for market share in the emerging Internet software field - has now been widened to encompass several other aspects of Microsoft's business practices.

In addition to allegations that Microsoft tried to persuade Netscape to co-operate in "dividing the market" for browsers, the government claimed Microsoft had conducted similar discussions with Intel, the world chip leader, Apple Computer, the PC industry pioneer, and a small company called Real Networks, which offers software to enable video and audio signals to be transmitted via the Internet.

Microsoft also used its control over the Windows operating system to make competing products work, or appear to work, less efficiently with Windows than its own software, the government charged.

In another example of alleged anti-competitive behaviour, Microsoft is alleged to have "set out to eliminate the potential threats posed by Netscape and Java".

Java, a programming language developed by Sun Microsystems, posed a threat to Microsoft because it enabled programmers to write software that would run on all types of computers. Microsoft entered into a series of agreements with customers and competitors to restrict the use of Java and to substitute its own version of the language, the government said.

Microsoft vigorously denied all the new allegations, which it said were included because the government was no longer confident of its ability to prove the initial case focused on the Netscape battle.

"These kinds of collaborative discussions and efforts are commonplace throughout the industry and are to the benefit of consumers," Microsoft said.

In its court filing on Tuesday, the US government based its arguments in large part on Microsoft's internal documents and interviews with its executives.

But it accused Microsoft executives of "an astonishing lack of recall" when questioned about their own evidence. Mr Bill Gates, the founder and chief executive, is charged with displaying "a particular failure of recollection at his deposition". Microsoft, in response, said its executives had co-operated to the best of their abilities with investigators.