IP: Break it up.

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> From: "Gillmor, Dan" <DGillmor () sjmercury com>
> To: "'farber () cis upenn edu'" <farber () cis upenn edu>
> Subject: FYI
> Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 10:26:32 -0700
>
>
> http://www.sjmercury.com:/svtech/columns/gillmor/docs/dg042300.htm
>
> Break it up.
>
> That's what the federal courts should do with Microsoft Corp., the most
> powerful and unrepentant monopolist to have emerged since the heyday of
> Standard Oil. And it's what the U.S. Justice Department, 19 state
> governments and the District of Columbia should request this week when they
> file their proposed sanctions with U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield
> Jackson.
>
> I wish a less drastic solution could work. And I fear the government
> lawyers, who overwhelmingly proved their case in a pathbreaking antitrust
> trial, will talk themselves into milder -- and ultimately useless --
> remedies.
>
> But the record is all too clear. Microsoft's leaders plainly do not believe
> the antitrust laws apply to what they do. They are smart and tenacious and
> will thwart any sanctions that do not fundamentally alter the company's
> structure.