Lawyers lobby for Microsoft break-up

Anti-trust hawks in the US Government are calling for Microsoft to be split up, according to reports.

On Wednesday, US news organisations reported that lawyers within the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and the 19 states that took part in the anti-trust trial against Microsoft have decided that a break-up is essential to curb the software giant's dominance in the operating system market.

Microsoft spokesman Jim Cullinan said the reports are "inappropriate" beacuse neither the trial nor the mediation process has yet concluded. "In the wake of the largest merger in history, it's ironic even talking about breaking up Microsoft when the AOL/Time Warner [combination] is directly aimed at competing with Microsoft in a different paradigm altogether."

USA Today yesterday said lawyers were recommending that Microsoft be divided into two companies: one for its Windows operating system, and another for its other software and Internet businesses.

Without denying that a break-up is on the agenda, the DoJ issued a statement saying: "The story is inaccurate in several important respects. It does not accurately reflect our views."

Later in the day came other reports which indicated that the DoJ is in fact in favour of splitting Microsoft into three. One company would be Windows, the second applications and the third would combine all its investments. That company would be a technology incubator. The DoJ refused to comment.

The next court date in the anti-trust trial is 17 January when Microsoft will deliver its 'Conclusions of Law'. In that document Microsoft will attempt to show that even though the trial judge has ruled that the software giant has a monopoly with Windows, it did not break anti-trust laws by abusing that monopoly.