Parallels Seen in Microsoft, Cards Cases

Lee, W. A., American Banker

An appeals court's mixed ruling in the government's antitrust case against Microsoft Corp. could have implications for the civil lawsuit that merchants have filed against Visa U.S.A. and MasterCard International over debit card policies.

Visa and MasterCard said the Microsoft ruling Thursday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit could bolster their position in the so-called Wal-Mart case, though other observers said the decision would help the merchants. The lead attorney for the merchants, Lloyd Constantine, said he did not think it would have any effect on his case.

All sides seemed to agree in finding parallels between the allegations in the Justice Department's case against Microsoft and those in the retailers' lawsuit against the card associations, for which no trial date has been set. Like Microsoft, Visa and MasterCard are accused of trying to monopolize their market and are charged with tying one product -- in this case, debit cards -- to a …

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Publication information: Article title: Parallels Seen in Microsoft, Cards Cases. Contributors: Lee, W. A. - Author. Magazine title: American Banker. Volume: 166. Issue: 126 Publication date: July 2, 2001. Page number: 1. © 2009 SourceMedia, Inc. COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group.

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