The Justice Department has filed additional evidence with the judge hearing its case against Microsoft Corp, showing that the company is forcing personal computer manufacturers to bundle Internet Explorer with copies of Windows 95, or risk losing their license to the latter. Justice will be pressing for Judge Thomas Jackson to press ahead with the case at the next scheduled hearing on December 5. Microsoft, on the other hand, is likely to ask for additional time to gather more evidence – a process known as discovery – arguing that Justice has been doing just that for a couple of years now. There is a faint possibility that Jackson will give his ruling on December 5, but that is thought unlikely. Justice is expected to argue that the case is not sufficiently complicated to warrant a lengthy discovery process. Justice will also respond to Microsoft’s allegation that it knew about the company’s plans to integrate the two products all along, following the earlier consent decree, and the company has no case to answer.
