DOJ seeks contempt order against Microsoft
Published: 18 Dec 1997 11:46 GMT
The Department of Justice filed papers yesterday with US District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson asking that Microsoft Corp. be held in civil contempt for not complying with his order barring the company from forcing OEMs to bundle the Internet Explorer browser with Windows 95.
The DOJ claims Microsoft's steps to comply with last week's preliminary injunction have thus far been insufficient.
At a briefing held yesterday afternoon in Washington, one DOJ official accused Microsoft of making "an absolute mockery of the preliminary injunction."
The department is also asking the court to force Microsoft to make available to computer manufacturers the most current version of Windows 95, with Internet Explorer uninstalled.
"Microsoft has gone from tying its products to tying the hands of its vendors," said Joel Klein, head of the anti-trust division at the DOJ. "The more Microsoft continues this practice, the more consumers are harmed."
Jackson's preliminary injunction last Thursday requires Microsoft to "cease and desist" from forcing OEMs to bundle any version of Internet Explorer with Windows 95.
To comply with Jackson's order, Microsoft announced on Monday that it is offering OEMs three choices: the current Windows 95, including IE; a two-year-old version; or a version of the OS that doesn't contain the IE files but that won't operate properly.
At the same time, Microsoft said it would appeal Jackson's order.
The DOJ said it is also asking Jackson to require the Redmond, Wash., company to notify the DOJ 30 days before it releases any updated version of its operating system or browsers. The department said it made the request because Microsoft was not complying in good faith with the injunction.
In addition, the DOJ is asking that the court fine Microsoft $1 million for each day it is in violation of the judge's order, saying Microsoft could comply with the original order if it wanted to.
Inter@ctive Week's Will Rodger, ZDNN's Michael Fitzgerald and PC Week's Michael Moeller contributed to this story.
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