ACT Analysis of the Microsoft/DOJ Proposed Settlement

In the past few days, many have stepped up to attack the settlement agreement between Microsoft and the Department of Justice. Yet, while nearly all the critics are representatives of Microsoft’s multibillion dollar competitors, few had even read the agreement and fewer still understand the realities of the rulings of the Court of Appeals. To help fill the void of rational analysis of this agreement, a team from the Association for Competitive Technology spent the weekend preparing this analysis.

This settlement is far from perfect, but those who call it a complete “win” for Microsoft reveal their biases. Like all settlements, this was the result of concessions on both sides in order to bring this case to a close quickly for the sake of the industry and the economy. While many critics like to invoke the phrase “unanimous appeals court decision” as support for their claims, they rarely explain exactly on what the court “unanimously” agreed. Therefore, this document includes:

• A summary of the provisions of the settlement agreement and how Microsoft, competitors and consumers are affected
• A chart showing how provisions address each of the Court of Appeals findings
• A chart demonstrating which settlement provisions go beyond the findings of the Court of Appeals (and would likely not have been included through further litigation)

Click here to read the full analysis.