States are a tool of competitors
Yahoo | at | by Mike
Microsoft Corp. is using a potentially risky strategy to avoid tough antitrust penalties, legal experts say. The company is portraying states that want the penalties as tools of its competitors. San Francisco antitrust lawyer Dana Hayter said Microsoft has to prove more than a close relationship exists between the states and the technology companies that compete with Microsoft. The company also has to show that the penalties the states are seeking won't benefit consumers.
In questioning the states' witnesses, Microsoft lawyers have tried to show that its rivals hope to get from the court what they couldn't pry away from Microsoft in the marketplace. Those rivals, the lawyers argued, fed ideas to the states and even shaped their proposed penalties.