WASHINGTON -- As secret negotiations begin in an effort to settle the Microsoft antitrust case, the government must decide whether it will require the company to surrender the lucrative blueprints for its Windows software as a condition of ending the bitter courtroom fight.
Microsoft, which has said it won't reveal details of the settlement talks expected to begin Tuesday in Washington, bristled over indications that government lawyers might put forth such a proposal, which they have discussed openly over past weeks along with other ideas.The government contends that allowing other companies to sell and modify Windows would successfully dilute Microsoft's influence as the monopoly supplier of the software that runs most of the world's personal computers.
But the company said legal protections for its own products would prevent any mandatory licensing to other companies.
Microsoft also rejected as unacceptable any proposal to break up the company, an idea supported by some of its toughest critics in the high-tech industry.