Old news.-g- Try this: States could join Microsoft antitrust battle
By Gail Appleson, Law Correspondent
NEW YORK, Dec. 17 (Reuters) - State officials, fresh from winning an unprecedented settlement with the tobacco industry,
have joined forces again to consider a national antitrust battle against Microsoft Corp.
If the attorneys general collaborate on a multistate action, it will add to the legal woes of Microsoft, which is already battling a
Justice Department lawsuit that alleges the giant software company violated a 1995 antitrust agreement.
Although it is not unusual for the attorneys general -- usually the top legal officers of their states -- to work together in bringing
civil consumer fraud actions, their unified power has gained new respect since the tobacco deal was reached on June 20.
Even though the $368.5 billion settlement could be changed by Congress, the attorneys general won concessions from the
powerful tobacco industry, which had boasted it never spent a cent on personal injury damages and would never settle a
lawsuit.
Some of the same attorneys general who were involved in the tobacco talks, including those from Connecticut, Florida and
New York, are also involved in the Microsoft discussions.
Representatives from nine states met for three-days in Chicago last week to discuss a possible strategy for suing Microsoft.
Other states involved in the talks are California, Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts.
Some states already have their own investigations under way. Texas sued Microsoft last month, alleging the state's antitrust
probe was being impeded by Microsoft's licensing agreement, which requires client companies to notify the Redmond,
Wash.-based software giant before talking to government investigators.
Attorneys for Texas and Microsoft could be back in an Austin court as early as January to argue whether the company should
be forced to drop the provision.
Spokesmen for the attorneys general offices involved in the Microsoft discussions would not give details about the next step in
their talks or say if charges would be filed.
''It's still under investigation, and we haven't made any determinations about whether there were any antitrust violations,'' said
Ward Tisdale, a spokesman for Texas Attorney General Dan Morales.
A Microsoft spokesman said the company has not been contacted by any of the states except Texas.
''We would welcome the opportunity to meet with each of the state attorney general's offices and provide them with our
perspective on competition in the software industry,'' spokesman Mark Murray said.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is appealing last week's ruling by a federal judge in the Justice Department antitrust lawsuit, which
temporarily blocks Microsoft from requiring computer makers to use its Internet software along with its popular Windows 95
and other operating systems.
In its lawsuit, the department alleges that Microsoft has unfairly pressured computer makers into taking its World Wide Web
browser, Internet Explorer, over rival products from Netscape Communications Corp. A browser allows users to access the
World Wide Web and other information on the Internet.
Murray said Microsoft's rivals were largely to blame for the company's current wave of legal difficulties.
''I think there has been a coordinated effort by Microsoft's competition to try to gear up anti-Microsoft activity and try to use
government as a weapon against Microsoft rather than compete on the basis of product quality,'' he said.
Investors expressed concern about the widening probe of Microsoft, whose stock fell $1.44 to $137.625 on Nasdaq.
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