Introduction
Attorney General Janet Reno announces the government's suit against Microsoft Corp. on May 18, flanked by, from left, Assistant Attorney General Joel I. Klein, New York Attorney General Dennis Vacco, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. (Photo Credit: Larry Dowling, Reuters) June 12, 1998 The CQ Researcher Pages 505 - 528© 1998, Congressional Quarterly Inc. All rights reserved.
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For more than a century, federal law has sought to encourage competition by prohibiting monopoly behavior and other anti-competitive business practices. Now the government is accusing giant Microsoft Corp. of illegally trying to stifle competition in computer software markets. Microsoft says it has done nothing wrong and argues that the parallel suits by the federal government and a coalition of 20 states will stifle innovation and hurt consumers. The high-stakes court action comes as the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission are also more closely scrutinizing corporate mergers that may restrict competition. With a record wave of mergers, some people are cheering the more aggressive policy and some want the government to do even more, but others say the government should let the marketplace alone.
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