> force Microsoft to sell its products in certain ways or configurations.
Antitrust law.
>From Encyclopaedia Britannica:
any law restricting business practices considered unfair or monopolistic.
The United States has the longest standing policy of maintaining competition
among business enterprises through a variety of laws. The best known is the
Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which declared illegal "every contract,
combination . . . or conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce." Another
important U.S. antitrust law, the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, as amended
in 1936 by the Robinson-Patman Act, prohibits discrimination among customers
through prices or other means; it also prohibits mergers of firms, or
acquisitions of one firm by another, whenever the effect may be "to
substantially lessen competition."
Here's the American Bar Association's page on antitrust:
http://www.abanet.org/antitrust/
The basic gist as I understand it is that the right to sell product is a
public trust. It's granted to a business for the betterment of society. If
that trust is abused and the business in question is harming society, then
the government may take steps to rectify the situation.
-Kevin
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