The Conclusions of Law 4
The Conclusions of Law 4
The Proposed Conclusions of Law also
deals with the allegations that Microsoft illegally tied their Internet Explorer
web browser to several internet providers’ software and to the Windows
operating system. Microsoft is quick to point out that their agreements with
competitors do allow them to distribute some Netscape software, and were of
relatively short duration, allowing their partners to change allegiances after
the agreements ran out.
Microsoft also points to a legal
precedent, the 1973 Telex Corp. v. IBM case, in which the court ruled that when
one product is in question, the court’s business is not to dissect that
product and bind it back together under an imagined tying agreement. Microsoft
asserts that their Windows / Internet Explorer amalgam is a single product and
that the two are entirely integrated.