How California-Sponsored Microsoft Antitrust Remedies Could Cost California Billions; PRI to Host Sacramento Symposium

4/30/2002

From: Dawn Collier of the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), 415-955-6136

News Advisory:

WHO: -- Stan Liebowitz, economist, University of Texas, author, Swiss Cheese Windows: Estimating Some Costs of the Nine State Remedy -- Sally Pipes, president, Pacific Research Institute -- Sonia Arrison, director, Center for Technology Studies, Pacific Research Institute

WHAT: Symposium: "How California-Sponsored Microsoft Antitrust Remedies Could Cost California Billions"

WHEN: Friday, May 3 12-1 p.m.

WHERE: State Capitol Building Room 3191, Third Floor Sacramento, Calif.

DETAILS: Should California taxpayer dollars be spent to litigate against Microsoft when the alternative settlement proposals spearheaded by state Attorney General Bill Lockyer will cost California consumers billions?

Nine states, led by Attorney General Lockyer, have rejected the antitrust settlement that the Department of Justice and Microsoft signed last year and proposed alternative penalties against Microsoft. In the next several weeks, federal Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly will decide on the state's demands, which include an unprecedented request to dismantle Microsoft's operating system. University of Texas economist Stan Liebowitz will explain how the penalties that California is pursuing would cost the state's residents billions and harm its economy, while benefiting only a handful of technology and software companies. PRI president Sally Pipes will discuss a recent study showing how the proposals could harm women workers who increasingly rely on innovative technology to balance work and family. Sonia Arrison, director of PRI's Center for Technology Studies, will provide an overview of the case and the cost of Lockyer's proposals.