Hatch Schedules Another Microsoft Hearing

(July 17, 1998)  Sen. Orrin Hatch announced that the Senate Judiciary Committee, which he chairs, will hold another hearing into Microsoft's business practices on July 23.   The hearing is titled "Competition in the Digital Age: Beyond the Browser Wars," and will feature testimony from an as yet undisclosed panel which will include Microsoft opponents.

Sen. Hatch (R-UT) is the main critic of Microsoft in the Congress.  He held a widely publicized hearing in April which featured Bill Gates (Microsoft) and bitter competitors James Barksdale (Netscape) and Scot McNealy (Sun Microsystems).

However, Hatch's views are not shared by all members of the Judiciary Committee.  For example, on Tuesday, Senators Kyl, Sessions, and Abraham wrote a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno and Sen. Hatch complaining that the Department of Justice' Antitrust Division had engaged in improper conduct in its pursuit of Microsoft.

"I believe we need to look beyond the so-called 'browser wars'," Sen. Hatch stated in a press release.   "Notwithstanding the important consequences of the browser wars, we should not allow preoccupation with this particular issue to prevent us from examining broader and more current issues which could have significant long-term consequences for the ability of U.S. consumers to reap the rewards of a competitive and innovative software industry, and the continued growth of a free and open Internet."

The Department of Justice failed to pursuade the Court of Appeals in its first suit against Microsoft that Microsoft's integration of browsing functions into its Windows 95 software constituted a violation of the 1995 Consent Decree between the DOJ and Microsoft.   And it appears unlikely that the Court in the DOJ's second suit against Microsoft will find against Microsoft on any browser intergration based claim.

Hence, the Department of Justice, Sen. Hatch, and other Microsoft detractors are looking into other business practices.

"With every day we are coming to live and to work in an increasingly networked, technology driven world," Hatch stated. "In the next century, it is likely that we will depend to a great extent on the Internet, intranets, and other Internet-related technologies to communicate with one another, to conduct our businesses, to obtain news and entertainment to teach our children, and to purchase goods and services. All this will be made possible by the software which allows us to interconnect with, and share information over, this ever expanding network. And there is little question that Microsoft, which now controls the PC software market is seeking to extend its desktop monopoly in effect to control these other technologies and, to a large extent, the network itself."

Sen. Hatch concluded that, "As a government and as a society I think we must give close scrutiny to the nature, extent and ramifications of this development, and I believe this hearing will be an important step in this ongoing process."

The time, hearing room, and witness list have not yet been announced.

The Committee is not presently considering any legislation that would alter the antitrust laws affecting Microsoft.