Justice Dept. says Microsoft dragging its feet on compliance

Google isn't the only company having a little tiff with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Microsoft was rebuked Monday by the Justice Department and states for falling behind on elements of its 2001 antitrust settlement with the government.

Prosecutors said Microsoft hasn't made it clear how serious the situation has become. They're concerned Microsoft is lagging in its effort to document Windows communications protocols it was ordered to share with competitors.

Microsoft is sharing technical data as required, but it's taking too long to update documentation other companies need to take advantage of the material, according to a technical committee advising the government.

"Since approximately mid-November, Microsoft has fallen significantly behind in responding to technical documentation issues" submitted by the committee, the filing said.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is expected to address the situation when the two sides appear in her Washington, D.C., courtroom for a status report Feb. 14.

Google isn't being hauled before Kollar-Kotelly, but it confirmed last week it's resisting a Justice Department subpoena in a case involving online pornography access restrictions. The information doesn't identify users' search history, but Google contends the subpoena is unnecessary and intrusive.

Microsoft, Yahoo! and America Online earlier complied with similar subpoenas.

Monday's government filing and a report filed by Microsoft last week are intended to keep the judge abreast of progress on the protocol-licensing project.

Microsoft spokesman Jack Evans said the company "is working hard to resolve the concerns raised" by the latest filing. He noted that 26 companies are already licensing the protocols.

In its filing last week, Microsoft acknowledged challenges in parts of the protocol-sharing plan. The company said it has plenty of resources available but is having trouble finding enough software developers with the right skills and appropriate space to do the work.

Microsoft is outsourcing parts of the project to a vendor in China, which doesn't have enough secure space to work on the more sensitive elements of the project. Microsoft is trying to obtain visas so that the Chinese specialists can do the work in Redmond.

Meanwhile, Microsoft and the government's technical committee are doing testing work at laboratories in Hyderabad and Pune, India, where they were able to start producing data last week, according to Microsoft's filing.

Brier Dudley: 206-515-5687 or bdudley@seattletimes.com