“The matter before the court was whether Microsoft could be held in contempt for violating a consent decree entered in 1995. The court denied the Justice Department's petition for contempt; the case should have ended there. But on its own initiative, the court proceeded to treat the matter as a tying case and, without giving Microsoft notice or an opportunity to defend itself, issued a preliminary injunction.”
“This preliminary injunction threatens every American technology company's right to innovate and define what goes into its products. The ruling puts the government into the middle of complex product design issues in an industry that, for more than 20 years, has experienced incredible growth, innovation and competition - without government intervention.”
“The curtain is coming down on a feeble case presented by the government. In its rush to judgment, the government has failed to stop and learn about the benefits to customers, consumers of the innovation and the low prices that Microsoft has championed and made reality in the PC software marketplace today.”
“This matter is very near an appellate phase where Microsoft will challenge the procedures used, the findings of fact, the conclusions of law, and any remedy entered. We anticipate that we will prevail at the conclusion of the appellate process.”
“Before we sat down to negotiate this degree, the government had subpoenaed documents that showed Microsoft had begun including integrated Internet technology into Windows 95 as early as the fall of 1993.”
“We were willing to explore ways in which [computer makers] might create more choices in browsing technology. There were a number of issues we thought were worthy of discussion, but the government would not engage us. We were there to solve a problem, and they were constantly asking for more.”
