Microsoft antitrust ruling looms

Microsoft is moving closer to defeat in its antitrust case after the presiding judge likened the software giant's grip on the industry to 'robber baron' John D Rockefeller's Standard Oil monopoly.

In November, District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson found in favour of the US Department of Justice (DoJ), which had alleged that Microsoft abused its monopoly power to harm competitors and customers. The trial process has now moved on to deciding if this amounts to a violation of antitrust laws.

In exchanges last week with Microsoft's lawyers, Judge Jackson mentioned Rockefeller's control over the oil industry in the early 20th century, saying: "I don't really see a distinction."

Standard Oil was notoriously secretive and bullying, employing a number of deceitful business tactics, and became a by-word for unacceptable corporate practices. It was broken up by law in 1911, in a landmark antitrust decision, and Microsoft may now have legitimate fears of a similar fate. It has publicly described such a punishment as "a regulatory death sentence".

The DoJ and state attorneys will undoubtedly push for strong sanctions against Microsoft. A legal expert brought in by the judge, however, has been reported as saying he is sceptical about plans to break Microsoft up into "Baby Bills", and that such a plan "doesn't seem logical".

Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig has produced a 51-page analysis of the antitrust laws as applied to Microsoft. He examined whether or not Microsoft is guilty of illegally tying goods and services by bundling Internet Explorer and Windows 95 and 98 together. Microsoft argues that companies can tie products as long as the consumer benefits as a result.

Judge Jackson will decide what sanctions Microsoft should face before the end of the month. Meanwhile, US Republican presidential candidate George Bush has hinted, while courting voters in Microsoft's home state of Washington, that if elected he would quash the case.