January 27, 2007
Microsoft's latest antitrust headache is an Iowa class-action lawsuit that charges the company has failed to open its source code and reveal the underlying interfaces needed by developers to make their software compatible with Windows, as is mandated by a 2002 settlement with the U.S. Justice Department.
The suit also alleges that Microsoft deliberately misled the marketplace by announcing Vista, its new operating system, years before it was ready to ship, thereby causing consumers to delay the purchase of rival software and unfairly stifling competition.
The business version of Vista was finally released last November and the consumer version will ship next week.
Attorney Kent Williams of Minneapolis won court permission last week to send information about the case to the Justice Department for possible further action.
Earlier in the week, Williams objected to comments by Microsoft attornoey David Tulchin, who told jurors that Microsoft had not engaged in anti-competitive behavior. In fact, Williams noted that Microsoft was found guilty of anti-trust acts in federal court in 1999.
Tulchin said he was referring to periods before and after the 1999 federal case.
The judge admonished Tulchin to be more precise in his comments.
Out of court, Microsoft spokesman Jack Evans said his company is in full compliance with the decree and "has documented everything it is required to document." Moreover, he said, its compliance has been "exhaustively reviewed by both the Department of Justice and its technical committee."
