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31 Conn. L. Rev. 1321 (1998-1999)
Microsoft and the Browser Wars

handle is hein.journals/conlr31 and id is 1331 raw text is: Microsoft and the Browser Wars ROBERT A. LEVY' I. INTRODUCTION America's century-old antitrust law, whatever its original rationale,' is increasingly irrelevant to our modem global information technology mar- ket. That, at least, is the rallying cry of the techno-optimists,2 who claim that efforts by government to promote competition by restraining high-tech firms that acquire market power will only stifle competition. The pace of innovation is so rapid, they add, that a firm like Microsoft will simply lose its customers if it does not offer the very best products. Some analysts disagree. They concede that dynamic technology makes it tough to sustain market power. Still, consumers will want compatible equipment, which will lead them to buy whatever product other consumers are using, even if the product is inferior. Consequently, insist those analysts, there is a con- tinuing need for aggressive antitrust enforcement in a high-tech world? Then there is Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), prominent among a contin- gent of politicians from both parties who have rediscovered the virtues of antitrust law as applied to information technology. Only two years ago, Republicans attacked the Clinton administration for trying to hobble Mi- crosoft, the symbol of American dynamism. But now Hatch-whose home * Robert A. Levy is Senior Fellow in ConstitutlonalStudles at the Cao Institute. This Article i-s originaly published Feb. 15,1998 as CATO POLCYAtiA$Lks No. 296 and Is reprinted with permLssion. 1. For persuasive arguments against the very premises of antitrust law, see DOmimCX T. ARmENTANO, ANTITRUST AND MONOPOLY (2d ed. 1990); D. T. Annentano, 77=r to RepcalAntltrust Regulation?, 35 ANTITRUST BULL. 311 (1990); William J. Baumol & Janusz A. Ordover, Use of Antitrust to Subvert Competition, 28 J.L & ECON. 247 (1985); Thomas J. DiLorenzo, Th-- Origin of Antitrust: An Interest-Group Perspective, 5 INT'L REV. L. & ECON. 73 (1985); Thomas J. DiLorenzo & Jack C. High, Antitrust and Competition. Historically Consldered, 26 ECON. INQUIRY 423 (1988); Fred S. McChesney, Law's Honour Lost: The Plight of Antitrust, 31 ANTITRUST BULL 359 (1986). For arguments against antitrust based largely on efficiency or utilitarian grounds, see ROBERT H. BoPi, THE ANTITRusT PARADOX (1978). For a critique of the robber-baron thesis, which led to antitrust in the first place, see BURTON W. FOLSOM, JR., THE MYTH OF THE ROBBER BARONS (1996). 2. Alan Murray,. Antitrust Isn't Obsolute in an Era of High Tech, WALL ST. J, Nov. 10, 1997. at Al. 3. Seek/

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