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Here are key dates in the antitrust case against Microsoft Corp.:
1975: Microsoft founded by Paul Allen and Bill Gates.
July 1994: Microsoft, in a consent decree, agrees to change contracts with PC makers and eliminate some restrictions on other software makers, ending a U.S. Justice Department investigation.
August 1995: Microsoft launches Windows 95 operating system.
September 1997: Microsoft launches Internet Explorer 4.0 in stepped-up challenge to Netscape Communications Corp.
1998
May: Justice Department and 20 state attorneys general sue Microsoft, charging it illegally thwarted competition to protect and extend its monopoly on software. One state later drops from the lawsuit.
October: Justice Department sues Microsoft, alleging it violated the 1994 consent decree by forcing computer makers to sell its Internet browser as a condition of selling its popular Windows software.
1999
Aug. 27: Government lawyers question Gates for 30 hours over three days in a videotaped deposition. Excerpts are shown in the courtroom during the trial.
Oct. 19: Antitrust trial begins.
Nov. 5: U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, in preliminary findings, declares Microsoft a monopoly. He rules that the company's actions are "stifling innovation" and hurting consumers.
Nov. 19: Jackson appoints Richard Posner, chief judge for the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, as a mediator to oversee voluntary settlement talks between the government and Microsoft.
2000
Jan. 18: Microsoft, in its first formal response to the court's ruling, says its Windows software doesn't represent a monopoly because the company doesn't control the price or availability of software to run the world's personal computers.
Feb. 22: Jackson hears final round of arguments, rejects key legal defense for Microsoft.
April 1: Talks between federal government and Microsoft break down. Posner says he is ending his mediation effort.
April 3: Jackson finds that Microsoft violated the Sherman Antitrust Act, "maintained its monopoly power by anticompetitive means" and tried to monopolize the Web browser market.
The judge also rules that Microsoft violated another section of the law by "unlawfully tying its Web browser to its operating system" and could be sued under state anti-competition laws.
1975: Microsoft founded by Paul Allen and Bill Gates.
July 1994: Microsoft, in a consent decree, agrees to change contracts with PC makers and eliminate some restrictions on other software makers, ending a U.S. Justice Department investigation.
August 1995: Microsoft launches Windows 95 operating system.
September 1997: Microsoft launches Internet Explorer 4.0 in stepped-up challenge to Netscape Communications Corp.
1998
May: Justice Department and 20 state attorneys general sue Microsoft, charging it illegally thwarted competition to protect and extend its monopoly on software. One state later drops from the lawsuit.
October: Justice Department sues Microsoft, alleging it violated the 1994 consent decree by forcing computer makers to sell its Internet browser as a condition of selling its popular Windows software.
1999
Aug. 27: Government lawyers question Gates for 30 hours over three days in a videotaped deposition. Excerpts are shown in the courtroom during the trial.
Oct. 19: Antitrust trial begins.
Nov. 5: U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, in preliminary findings, declares Microsoft a monopoly. He rules that the company's actions are "stifling innovation" and hurting consumers.
Nov. 19: Jackson appoints Richard Posner, chief judge for the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, as a mediator to oversee voluntary settlement talks between the government and Microsoft.
2000
Jan. 18: Microsoft, in its first formal response to the court's ruling, says its Windows software doesn't represent a monopoly because the company doesn't control the price or availability of software to run the world's personal computers.
Feb. 22: Jackson hears final round of arguments, rejects key legal defense for Microsoft.
April 1: Talks between federal government and Microsoft break down. Posner says he is ending his mediation effort.
April 3: Jackson finds that Microsoft violated the Sherman Antitrust Act, "maintained its monopoly power by anticompetitive means" and tried to monopolize the Web browser market.
The judge also rules that Microsoft violated another section of the law by "unlawfully tying its Web browser to its operating system" and could be sued under state anti-competition laws.
