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Technology Stocks : MSFT Internet Explorer vs. NSCP Navigator -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (19519)	5/20/1998 1:10:00 PM
From: Reginald Middleton	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

More good news??? Clear Message Antitrust lawyers predict that he is likely to grant only some of the government's requests. Last week, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed with Microsoft that its launch of Windows 98 shouldn't be affected by its 1995 antitrust settlement with the Justice Department. The ruling sent a clear message that the court doesn't want judges overseeing complicated orders that intrude upon product development. Any order that does so would "put judges and juries in the unwelcome position of designing computers," wrote the court. Some antitrust lawyers say Judge Jackson is likely to enjoin Microsoft from enforcing contract terms with computer makers and Internet providers that the government alleges are illegal. "This is the easiest thing for the government to persuade the court of-if the provisions exist, at least the government has the plausible argument" that they adversely affect consumers, says antitrust lawyer Joe Sims of Washington. It will be harder to convince Judge Jackson to give computer manufacturers more control over the screen that users see when they first turn on the computer, lawyers say. That starts to veer toward product design, which the Courts of Appeals has frowned upon. 'Border-Line Insanity' The hardest thing to do will be to convince Judge Jackson to require Microsoft to include Netscape's Internet browser in its Windows 98 software or sell its own Internet browser separately. "That's border-line insanity," says William Baxter, the Justice Department's antitrust chief from 1980 to 1984 and now professor emeritus as Stanford Law School. "Microsoft should be able to design and sell whatever it wants. If the PC manufacturer then wants to alter it, well that's the manufacturers' decision." No matter what the outcome of the hearing, there is likely to be an appeal to the D.C. Circuit, lawyers say. That appeal could take a few weeks to a year to be argued and decided. While Microsoft is unlikely to have the same three-judge panel that heard its case previously, the judges on the circuit tend to be conservative on antitrust issues. It is unclear whether they will approve a preliminary injunction that addresses anything more than the contract provisions, lawyers say. If the appeals court approves only a limited injunction, some lawyers see little reason for Microsoft to seek a settlement. The company would then have two to three years before a trial to make further inroads in the browser market. "Even if the government wins [after a full trial], what is it going to have achieved? It is likely to be a different world," says Mr. Sims.