Browser Competition on the Merits: We Support the EC Case Against Microsoft
: We support the European Commission’s efforts to restore competition on the merits in the market for Web browser software products. Contact Info Website: http://www.unclaw.com/chin/scholarship/m...<http://www.unclaw.com/chin/scholarship/microsoft.htm> Recent NewsThe U.S. Settlement Failed to Restore Competition on the Merits in the Browser Market • Since 1998, Microsoft has tied Internet Explorer to Windows through various contractual and technological means. • Despite having succeeded at trial in proving all of the factual predicates needed to support an antitrust tying claim, government prosecutors abandoned the tying claim in 2001, seeking a speedy settlement of the case. • While the settlement in the U.S. case helped open up some distribution channels for third-party browsers, the harms to competition in the market for Web browsers were never directly addressed. To this day, consumers do not have a neutral choice of Web browser. • Through technological superiority, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome have subsequently achieved substantial market shares, but they continue to face a market skewed by Microsoft’s illegal tying practices. Microsoft’s Code Fallacy and the U.S. Settlement • According to Microsoft, antitrust law should never require changes to the design of software products, because this will chill the freedom of programmers to innovate. One such innovation was in writing the shared blocks of code that support both operating system and Web browsing functions in Windows. • Microsoft's argument might make sense if its freedom to design software products ended when the last line of code was written. But a software product does not consist of code. If it did, you would own the Windows code on your computer and could sell copies of that code with impunity. • Actually, what you own is a license consisting of certain legal rights derived from Microsoft's copyright in the Windows code, together with the technological ability to use the code with your computer in the exercise of those rights. • As the sole author of the license contract, Microsoft enjoys considerable freedom in defining the extent to which consumers are able to use the Windows code. But freedom of contract is expressly limited by the antitrust laws. • The courts therefore had authority to order Microsoft to license and distribute its software so as to offer a neutral choice of Web browser. As Ed Felten showed at trial, Microsoft could easily have done so without undoing its programming innovations. Instead, the U.S. settlement endorsed Microsoft’s code fallacy and granted Microsoft a special immunity to license Windows under contractual terms that destroy freedom of competition in the browser market. What’s at Stake • There will never be a perfect Web browser. Consumers will always demand improvements. The market will be fully efficient in supplying those improvements only if there is full and free competition on the merits for Web browsers. Even though Web browsers are available for free, inefficiency in the Web browser market has resulted in security hazards, productivity losses, and other significant economic harms, and will continue to do so. Law Review and Op-Ed Articles on Microsoft’s Illegal Tying Conduct http://www.unclaw.com/chin/scholarship/microsoft.htm Mozilla to Weigh in On EU’s Microsoft Case (CNET, 2/10/09) http://snurl.com/cod52 Google Can Join EU’s Browser Case Against Microsoft (Bloomberg, 2/25/09) http://snurl.com/cod4i http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=54708743186 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Our Web site: http://www.RefreshAustin.org/ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Refresh Austin" group. [ Posting ] To post to this group, send email to [email protected] Job-related postings should follow http://groups.google.com/group/Refresh-Austin/web/refresh-austins-job-posting-guidelines. We do not accept job posts from recruiters. [ Unsubscribe ] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] [ More Info ] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Refresh-Austin -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
