The Dubious Search for 'Integration' in the Microsoft Trial

Connecticut Law Review, Vol. 31, p. 1251, 1999

24 Pages Posted: 4 Jun 2009

See all articles by William H. Page

William H. Page

University of Florida Levin College of Law

John E. Lopatka

The Pennsylvania State University (University Park) – Penn State Law

Date Written: June 3, 2009

Abstract

This article was published in 1999 while the Microsoft trial was still in progress. It examines the opposing positions of the parties on the legality, under Section 2 of the Sherman Act, of Microsoft's integration of its Internet Explorer web browser with its Windows operating system. For the government, the purported integration (or at least the prevention of dis-integration) had no technical justification and was merely exclusionary; for Microsoft, integration created a new, single, and better product. After scrutinizing the evidence in support of these positions, we argue that the issue of whether the browser was properly integrated with Windows under a judicially formulated standard has little relevance to the proper concerns of antitrust policy. For our later analysis of the issue of integration, see William H. Page & John E. Lopatka, The Microsoft Case: Antitrust, High Technology, and Consumer Welfare (Univ. of Chicago Press 2007).

Keywords: antitrust, monopolization, integration, Microsoft

JEL Classification: K21, K41, L12, L41, O31

Suggested Citation

Page, William Hepburn and Lopatka, John E., The Dubious Search for 'Integration' in the Microsoft Trial (June 3, 2009). Connecticut Law Review, Vol. 31, p. 1251, 1999, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1413953

William Hepburn Page (Contact Author)

University of Florida Levin College of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 117625
Gainesville, FL 32611-7625
United States

John E. Lopatka

The Pennsylvania State University (University Park) – Penn State Law ( email )

Lewis Katz Building
University Park, PA 16802
United States

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