AOL Suit Reopens Browser Monopoly, Tying Claims

AOL Time Warner has filed a private antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft alleging that illegal activities helped Microsoft win the browser war, and seeking damages for lost business. Because of the damages sought and the fact that it reopens claims that had been dropped from the federal antitrust case, this suit poses the most significant legal threat to Microsoft’s business since a judge’s breakup order in June 2000.

What AOL Wants

On Jan. 22, 2002, AOL filed a 20-page document in the District Court for the District of Columbia (the same court in which Microsoft’s federal antitrust case is currently being decided) alleging that Microsoft’s illegal activity “inflicted considerable harm” on the business of Netscape, the pioneering Web browser company that AOL bought in Nov. 1998. To counter this harm, AOL is asking the court for three things:

• Court orders to prevent further damage to Netscape, to restore competition in the Web browser market, and to enable “middleware platforms” (such