Redmond: DOJ is desperate
Microsoft accuses regulators of filing a groundless suit and of trying to rewrite the case just weeks before trial.
In a 48-page brief filed in U.S, District Court in Washington, D.C., Microsoft attorneys argue that the suit should be settled in its favor without even going to trial because prosecutors from the Justice Department and 20 states cannot meet the required elements of their case.
According to Microsoft, three undisputed facts "fatally undermine" the government's case:
"These three basic facts enable the court to dispose of the case" without going to trial, Microsoft argued. "Plaintiffs may wish that they had brought a different lawsuit against Microsoft, but all that is at issue here are the claims alleged in their complaints."
"The central facts of the case and the overwhelming body of law support Microsoft's position," said William Neukom, Microsoft's senior vice president for law and corporate affairs, in a statement. "Based on the facts and the recent appeals court decision, we believe the case should be dismissed now, without a long and costly trial."
The company also released a letter that it contends "confirmed Microsoft's central point in the case, that Internet Explorer is part of Windows 98 and cannot be removed from the operating system without seriously degrading it."
In a March 6 letter to Assistant Attorney General Joel Klein, one of Netscape's counsel, Hogan & Hartson, told the Justice Department: "We are totally unable to provide examples of files that can or cannot be deleted from Windows 98 since, as we discussed this week, it is our understanding that it simply is not possible to delete any portion of Internet Explorer, or of browsing functionality, from Windows 98 as presently configured without severely interfering with the operating system."
"Microsoft's reply is nothing new," the Justice Department said in a statement. "We look forward to proving that Microsoft engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts."