In 1998, the United States Department of Justice and state antitrust agencies charged that Microsoft was monopolizing the market for personal computer operating systems by suppressing a competitive threat from Netscape's web browser and Sun Microsystems' Java technologies. After a celebrated trial, the government won a partial victory, and federal courts issued a series of important decisions that inspired scores of follow-on suits by consumers, rivals, and foreign enforcement agencies.
William H. Page and John E. Lopatka's "The Microsoft Case" examines the implications of this momentous litigation from the perspective of consumer welfare. Tracing the development of the case from its conceptual origins through the trial and the key decisions on both liability and remedies, this book evaluates the defining antitrust litigation of our era. The authors argue that, at critical points, the legal system failed consumers by overrating government's ability to influence outcomes in a dynamic market. This ambitious book is essential reading for business, law, and economics scholars as well as anyone else interested in the ways that technology, economics, and antitrust law have interacted in the digital age.