Original Sender : Ari <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-03/31/186l-033199-idx.html Microsoft, Regulators Begin Antitrust Settlement Talks -------------------------------------------------------------- By Rajiv Chandrasekaran Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, March 31, 1999; Page E03 After sparring for almost five months in a federal courtroom, lawyers for Microsoft Corp., the Justice Department and 19 states met for two hours yesterday evening to discuss the software giant's proposal to settle government's antitrust lawsuit. Officials on both sides declined to comment on the substance of talks. One source close to the case said last night that the lawyers plan to hold another meeting. The talks got underway shortly after 5 p.m. at the Justice Department's headquarters in Washington when Microsoft's delegation, led by the company's general counsel, William H. Neukom, arrived at a side entrance in a dark-blue sedan. Neukom was joined by Richard J. Urowsky, one of the company's outside attorneys, and Charles F. "Rick" Rule, a former Justice Department official who now is a legal adviser to the company. Justice Department antitrust chief Joel I. Klein participated in at least part of yesterday's meeting. Also on the government side of the table was trial attorney David Boies, several senior Justice lawyers, and the attorneys general of Iowa and Connecticut. Although the judge presiding over the case urged the two sides to conduct settlement talks while the trial is in a six-week recess, legal experts say the possibility is slim that the parties will find a middle ground. The company's four-page settlement proposal, delivered to the government last week, largely offered to amend provisions in contracts with Internet firms and personal computer makers that require them to distribute Microsoft products almost exclusively and prevent them from modifying Microsoft's dominant Windows operating system, according to sources familiar with the document. The proposal also indicated that Microsoft would be willing to discuss the ways it shares details about new versions of Windows with other divisions of the company that develop software programs, such as word processors and spreadsheets, the sources said. Microsoft's competitors contend that the company shares technical details with its own programmers before it provides them to rivals, an allegation Microsoft has long disputed. Government lawyers, who allege that Microsoft has used the market clout of Windows to bully and threaten competitors, contend that the company's offer does not go far enough in restoring competition and in preventing Microsoft from engaging in anti-competitive conduct in the future. California's attorney general, Bill Lockyer, last week called Microsoft's offer "minimalist." Should they win, the government lawyers likely would seek far stiffer sanctions than Microsoft has indicated it would accept as part of a settlement. Among the sanctions being considered by the government are a breakup of the company and an order forcing Microsoft to auction to other firms the secret code that makes up Windows. Microsoft officials, including chief executive Bill Gates, have said they would never agree to a forced sharing of Windows or a corporate breakup. Gates has said that any settlement must preserve the "integrity" of Windows and permit Microsoft to include whatever features it wants in the operating system. A settlement, however, could allow the government to obtain immediate changes in Microsoft's business behavior. Any sanction imposed by a judge likely would be put on hold until it was reviewed by an appeals court, a process that could take several years. � Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company ---------------------------------------------------------------- Compu-Mania MailingList is provided by PT Centrin Utama Maintained by : [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Post a msg : Send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe : Mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] BODY : unsubscribe Compu-Mania For more information, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "HELP" in the BODY of your mail (without quote). ----------------------------------------------------------------
