The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued a filing with Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly stating that continued antitrust oversight of Microsoft past the planned November 2007 expiration is unnecessary. According to the DOJ, the several US states that wish to extend this oversight have provided no evidence to support such a request.
"There is no basis for the court to order a five-year extension of \[Microsoft's antitrust consent decree\]," the DOJ filing reads, noting that the states' arguments are "inadequate and mutually inconsistent." Furthermore, the DOJ says, Microsoft's diminished but continued market dominance is not cause for further oversight.
Last month, Kollar-Kotelly temporarily extended the oversight period from November to January so she could consider arguments from several US states that wish to see Microsoft's oversight period extended another five years. Had this temporary oversight period not be granted, Microsoft's consent decree would have expired today.
