The Dubious Search for 'Integration' in the Microsoft Trial
Connecticut Law Review, Vol. 31, p. 1251, 1999
24 Pages Posted: 4 Jun 2009
Date Written: June 3, 2009
Abstract
This article was published in 1999 while the Microsoft trial was still in progress. It examines the opposing positions of the parties on the legality, under Section 2 of the Sherman Act, of Microsoft's integration of its Internet Explorer web browser with its Windows operating system. For the government, the purported integration (or at least the prevention of dis-integration) had no technical justification and was merely exclusionary; for Microsoft, integration created a new, single, and better product. After scrutinizing the evidence in support of these positions, we argue that the issue of whether the browser was properly integrated with Windows under a judicially formulated standard has little relevance to the proper concerns of antitrust policy. For our later analysis of the issue of integration, see William H. Page & John E. Lopatka, The Microsoft Case: Antitrust, High Technology, and Consumer Welfare (Univ. of Chicago Press 2007).
Keywords: antitrust, monopolization, integration, Microsoft
JEL Classification: K21, K41, L12, L41, O31
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation