Verified Document

Microsoft Anti-Trust Case Microsoft Was Charged With Essay

Microsoft Anti-Trust Case Microsoft was charged with using its position as an industry leader in computer software to force buyers to buy products that were bundled with Internet Explorer. The claim was considered a breach of anti-trust laws which declared that a company cannot package two products together based on one's popularity or market position with the consumer (U.S. v. Microsoft, 2002-2006). Microsoft has denied such claims that they took an unfair advantage of the market and consumer in order to strengthen an already dominant position in the industry (Hemphill, 2004). Especially in the case of the product coming from a company that has domination over the software industry such as Microsoft.

The Internet Explorer browser was not sold but given as a free product with the purchase of the Operating System by Microsoft. This is done by many companies throughout the industry. However when Microsoft applied this marketing principle, it was considered fraud based on Anti-trust Law (Hemphill, 2004). The capitalistic position of gaining a stronger position in the marketplace appears to be no more than a marketing maneuver. Compare to the original iPhone and AT&T partnership (Goldman, 2010). Was Apple or AT&T at fault for requiring iPhone's only carrier being a telecommunications company as monopolistic and widespread as AT & T. There is a two-year commitment tied to the iPhone contract which holds any consumer...

Therefore the claim against Microsoft is not valid. Since other browsers (I. e. carriers) could be used outside Internet Explorer. In this case the claim that this is a mishandling of power in the industry seems unjustified.
In addition the claim against Microsoft was that software glitches were installed to slow down the response time of alternative browsers of the competition to Internet Explorer such as Netscape or Opera (Weil & McMillan, 2003). This allegation may have been correct, but why should a company make it easier for the competition. That is a legitimate marketing tactic. After all the use of other browsers was not banned entirely by Microsoft as in the case with the Apple iPhone. Plus it should be the task of the competition to make their products more user friendly with any competitor's Operating System not the other way around. Again consider the video game market. The Sony Playstation compatible games that are designed by competitors have the task of making their product work with the Playstation console, not the other way around. Therefore here to the citing by the Anti-Trust claimants appear to be in error.

Yet a third complaint of the plaintiff was that the bundled product had a hidden cost associated with Internet Explorer. This appears to implicate Microsoft with intentional misuse of the law in order to manipulate the market in…

Sources used in this document:
References

Brick, R. (2001). U.S. appeals court overturns Microsoft anti-trust ruling . Retrieved June

16, 2011 from http://www. nytimes. com/2001/06/28/business/28WIRE-SOFT. html

Goldman, D. (2010). iPhone anti-trust law goes to class action. Retrieved June 16, 2011

from http://money. cnn. com/2010/07/12/technology/apple_att_lawsuit/index. htm
Retrieved from http://www. pcworld. com/news/article/0,aid,110930,00. asp
United States v. Microsoft, (2002, 2006). Retrieved from http://www. usdoj. gov/atr/cases/ms_index. htm
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Microsoft and U.S. Anti-Trust Policy
Words: 1623 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

Although one cannot make a good case for asserting that any one component in and of itself constitutes a monopolistic practice (see, for example how the operating system's prices have remained low in the following graphs), as part of a greater plan to dominate the market, there certainly is a solid case. Although the penalty for Microsoft as a monopoly is hardly extreme, it will certainly serve as a

Microsoft the Beast Is Back
Words: 952 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

Microsoft: The Beast Is Back Fortune Magazine: http://www.fortune.com/indexw.jhtml?channel=artcol.jhtml&doc_id=202708 Why is work fun again for Bill Gates? Work has become less stressful for Bill Gates. Once CEO of the almighty Microsoft, now Mr. Gates has since passed that post to friend Steve Ballmer. Bill Gates, for almost two years has been serving as chief software architect, a post in which he created and also has a seat on the board. Certainly, the anti-trust cases

Sports and Anti-Trust Is the National Football
Words: 4609 Length: 15 Document Type: Term Paper

Sports and Anti-Trust Is the National Football League's Requirements to Enter the Draft a Violation of Antitrust Law? If so why? Why does the NFL think it is not a violation? Defining the AntiTrusts Legislation Sherman AntiTrust Legislation Clayton Antitrust amendment Presidential support The Maurice Clarett Case The NFL's position, The effect is could have on the game. Judge Scheinin's decision Sherman Antitrust Act Clayton Act Basis of Judge Shira Scheinin's Decision Other cases from other Professional sports leagues, like the NBA, that are

Microsoft: Antitrust Battles the It&c
Words: 2684 Length: 9 Document Type: Research Proposal

Additionally, he argued that the best interest of the consumers, as promoted by Gate's organization, was in fact not the core element of new endeavors, as the company had argued, but that whenever a new product or service was being projected, this would be done in order to serve the financial interests of the organization rather than increase customer utility (Kegel, 2006). In order to better understand why the above mentioned

Antitrust Laws and Cases Economics
Words: 1804 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

In short, the petitioners accused Microsoft of monopolizing the market by way of unfair practices. In 2000, the court found Microsoft guilty of such violations of antitrust laws. As a consequence, Microsoft was broken into two businesses. What's more, other businesses filed grievances against Microsoft; the latter oftentimes settled out of court, paying restitution to the claimants. Shortly after the judgment to breakup Microsoft was made, it was partly

Economics the Partnership Between Microsoft and Apple
Words: 590 Length: 2 Document Type: Research Paper

Economics The Partnership between Microsoft and Apple after Microsoft had faced tough anti-trust scrutiny is an example of monopolistic competition. Microsoft and Apple produce products that are not perfect substitutes of each other. In fact, the products are perceived to be different to all other brands products. Microsoft's products include Microsoft Office and the IE products. Apple on the other hand had MAC operating system (Kawamoto, Heskett & Ricciuti, 1997). Microsoft

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now