Statement of Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller Regarding Judge Jackson's Decision in the Microsoft Antitrust Case

The State Attorneys General who are plaintiffs in the Microsoft case welcome the Court's decision today. It vindicates the law, strengthens competition, fosters innovation, and helps insure that the U.S. will remain highly competitive and a leader in the global technology industry.

We believe that this remedy will prevent recurrence of Microsoft's anti-competitive conduct and restore to the marketplace the vital competition that Microsoft itself destroyed. It will do that in a way which protects both consumers and shareholder value, and promotes market-driven innovation.

The remedy the Court ordered today is a fitting conclusion to the trial proceedings over which Judge Jackson has presided.

There is no question that Microsoft enjoys a commanding position in one of the most vital sectors of the nation's economy, or what has been called the "new economy." But the Court has found that Microsoft repeatedly abused that position to maintain its own power, and that it stepped on would-be competitors and held back innovations that could have benefitted consumers.

The Court's decision today sends a strong message that no company is above the law, and that when any company -- no matter how important or powerful -- acts illegally in ways that injure consumers, thwart competition and stifle innovation, prosecutors and courts will act to stop the wrongdoing and repair the harm. That is a message which is just as important in the new economy as it was in the old.

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