9 Biggest Court Battles in Technology
8. U.S. v. Microsoft
This one is the biggest ever that lasted several years. It started in 1998 when US regulators from 20 states complained that the software maker has used its Windows monopoly to unfairly compete. They accused Microsoft of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act as it bundled its Internet Explorer web browser software with its Windows operating system. This restricted the market for competing web browsers such as Netscape Navigator or Opera that were slow to download over a modem or had to be purchased at a store. Microsoft said that Windows and Internet Explorer was now the same product and that consumers were now getting all the benefits of IE for free.
In this hard fought war, a massive PR campaign was also involved between Microsoft and its critics. Microsoft went to the extent of publishing full-page ads in The New York Times in an attempt to convince President Bill Clinton that the case wasn’t in the public’s interest. In 2001, the software giant settled with the Justice Department.
