The Preliminary Injunction Case 4

The DOJ also suggested that while Microsoft had arguably complied with the letter of the injunction, they had ignored the spirit of it. The DOJ said that the ruling was meant to force Microsoft to offer the most current version of the Windows operating system without the inclusion of Internet Explorer, and with no other functions of the operating system affected.

Microsoft says that the DOJ's new interpretation speaks in terms of product development, whereas the injunction spoke in terms of licensing practices, as did the consent decree it was meant to uphold. Furthermore, Microsoft cited legal precedents that say civil contempt can only be found if the prosecution can find absolute proof that the offender violated a "clear and unambiguous" prohibition or restriction placed on it by the court. This does not describe the "spirit" of the ruling, so the government's case again had no merit.

The case was never resolved in a courtroom, however. In January 1998 Microsoft reached an agreement with the DOJ that effectively put Microsoft in compliance with the injunction and ending the contempt case, meanwhile leaving the injunction open to appeal and letting the case before the appeals court continue.

The agreement forced MS to offer two new licensing options, both of which left most of the Internet Explorer functionality in the operating system while removing some portion of the web browsing software or the visible means of accessing it, just as the DOJ had been asking the court to order.

Back | Next
Index