Microsoft Monopoly Case

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A monopoly is the control or possession in the supply or trade of a commodity or service. Monopolists tend to keep prices high and restrict outputs showing little or no responsiveness to the needs of their customers. Because of this, most governments tend to control monopolies to keep them in check. However, most governments tend to create monopolies for national security, for competing economically internationally, or where most producers would be wasteful or pointless. While monopolies exist in varying degrees, no firm has total monopoly in this era of globalization. Back in 1998, the United States had taken Bill Gates and the Microsoft Corporation for a trial. The reason being is because Microsoft had been accused of becoming a monopoly …show more content…

After an attempt to send it to the Supreme Court, it was instead sent to the D.C Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals had overruled Judge Jackson’s rulings over Microsoft. This is partly because Judge Jackson had been accused by the Appeals Court for unethical conduct and violated the Code of Conduct for U.S Judges but after Judge Jackson’s response, the Appeal was remanded for consideration of a proper remedy. On September 6, 2001, the DOJ announced it was no longer seeking to break up Microsoft and instead find a less serious antitrust penalty for the …show more content…

I don’t think the court should have given Microsoft a penalty anyway. I feel the government was harsh with just the fact Microsoft was considered a monopoly. I feel that the government should’ve just given Microsoft a fine and another form of compromise so they can ensure their conduct is up to par. In this way, there won’t have to be any worries about companies becoming monopolies. For the past few years, people have been worried about their use of technology and their privacy. Remember the Edward Snowden case? Where he had leaked info that the NSA was listening to phone calls of people in the United States? Well, this conflict is what triggered the whole privacy conspiracy. I believe that, as technology becomes more advanced, producers (as well as the government) need to be more aware of privacy issues as many consumers are wary about that in order to ensure protection and

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