DOJ Chief Defends Microsoft Settlement
WinInfo | at | by Mike
At a speech before antitrust lawyers Friday, US Department of Justice (DOJ) antitrust chief Charles James defended his agency's settlement with Microsoft, stating that the agreement was fair and consistent with the narrow focus of the company's illegal activities.
"This is no ordinary case," he reminded the audience, noting the perception that the US government was simply attacking the world's richest man (Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft), regardless of the legality of the charges against his company. James also brushed aside criticism of the DOJ's agreement, which leaves Microsoft free to continue doing business without addressing its past behavior. "This was not an assault on the existence of [Microsoft's monopoly," he said. "There was no mandate to range broadly across the information industry. It was a middleware case, a middleware case, middleware case."