Microsoft Under Attack - Again Government Claims Company Circumventing Injunction, Asks Court To Issue Contempt Order

The Justice Department urged a federal judge Wednesday to hold Microsoft Corp. in contempt of an earlier order in an antitrust lawsuit involving Windows computer software.

Microsoft tried to circumvent the will of the court by offering “commercially worthless” options to computer makers, the government charged.

“Microsoft’s naked attempt to defeat the purpose of the court order and to further its litigation strategy is an affront to the court’s authority,” the government asserted in papers filed in U.S. District Court here.

“Microsoft has cynically acted as if the preliminary injunction permits it to perpetuate the very … (condition) the court enjoined,” it added.

The Justice filing is the latest volley in an antitrust lawsuit accusing the Redmond, Wash.-based software company of using its dominance in Windows software to muscle control of the Internet browser market.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issued a preliminary injunction ordering Microsoft to quit requiring computer makers to distribute the Internet Explorer browser program as a condition of installing the popular Windows operating system software on their PCs. Microsoft appealed the order Monday.

“The more Microsoft continues this practice, the more consumers are harmed,” Joel I. Klein, assistant attorney general for antitrust, said in a prepared statement.

Jackson’s ruling resulted from a Justice Department lawsuit contending Microsoft violated a 1995 court order aimed at preventing anti-competitive practices. The government sought a $1 million-a-day fine if the company refused to obey a contempt finding.

In a letter to the Justice Department Wednesday, Microsoft said it “believes it is in full compliance” with Jackson’s order. On Monday, Microsoft said it told computer makers “that they were not required to install Internet Explorer when installing Windows 95.”

“We’ll be happy to make our case to the judge … and prove we’re in full compliance with his order,” said Microsoft spokesman John Pinette.

“In a sense we were asked to build a car with part of the engine stripped out,” Pinette added. “And the Justice Department now is complaining about the manner in which we did that.”

Earlier, Microsoft said that to comply with Jackson’s order, it would offer computer makers a stripped-down version of Windows 95 software which doesn’t include the Internet Explorer.

But in doing so, Microsoft complained, it would be offering an older version of Windows software without the browser. Or, it said, computer makers could remove the browser from the more recent versions of Windows 95, but then Windows wouldn’t work.

Browsers, such as Explorer and Netscape Communication Corp.’s Navigator, enable computer users to find and retrieve information on the Internet.

In the latest filing, the Justice Department said neither of the options offered by Microsoft was commercial feasible, and computer makers would simply continue taking the latest version with the Internet Explorer. It asked Jackson to order the company to give computer companies “a meaningful option of licensing Windows 95 without the browser.”

It also wants Microsoft to offer a version in which Internet Explorer can be removed easily from the computer.