Unfinished business: Challenging Microsoft in Taiwan (China, European Union)

Microsoft, the world's largest software company, has been the target of antitrust scrutiny both inside and outside the United States. This dissertation investigates the global antitrust concerns of this dominant company in today's quickly-changing software industry. After presenting a series of tensions between antitrust systems and other legal regimes, this dissertation discusses the characteristics of the software industry, including strong network effects and stringent intellectual property protection, and their antitrust implications. A comparative study of the Microsoft cases in the U.S., the European Union, and Taiwan then illustrates their differences in methods of analysis, as well as some similarities. The U.S. case relied heavily on Microsoft's assorted efforts to unseat Navigator as the top Internet browser; the U.S. court's analysis focused on Microsoft's unlawful maintenance of its monopoly in the PC operating system market. By contrast, the EU case concentrated on the way Microsoft's behavior affected the server operating system and media player markets; the European Commission's decision tackled the issues of interoperability and tying. The action in Taiwan placed more emphasis on consumers; it dealt mainly with Microsoft's pricing behavior. After exploring the explanations for Microsoft's capture of other software markets, this dissertation further discusses the pros and cons of antitrust action against Microsoft. In particular, this dissertation sheds light on the legal, economic, social, and political conditions underlying the antitrust system in Taiwan, and finally, concludes with suggestions for Taiwan's antitrust and economic policies.