Microsoft @ 25: Impact, Influence, and Legacy symposium: Panel 3 – The Challenge of Remedy

June 28, 2026 will mark the 25th anniversary of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in United States v. Microsoft. In anticipation of that anniversary, at this symposium, NYU School of Law and Hausfeld LLP examined Microsoft’s impact on the development of U.S. monopoly law and policy, its influence on the economic analysis of digital markets, and its durable legacy. Although the Microsoft decision had limited impact at first, the case now stands at the center of an unprecedented wave of private and public antitrust challenges to some of today’s largest technology firms. Understanding and evaluating how Microsoft has affected these challenges was the central focus of this conference.

Panel 3 – The Challenge of Remedy: Justice Robert Jackson warned that if a court’s antitrust remedy did not open the market to competition, the Government would have “won a lawsuit and lost a cause.” The collective Microsoft cases recognized the broad discretion afforded courts in fashioning remedies in monopolization cases, but also imposed some constraints. In the end, however, the remedies that were implemented were largely the result of a settlement. Some, including the Justice Department, have argued that the settlement was effective, but many were critical, and the subsequent impact of the decree has been the subject of much debate. What remedial principles and lessons can the government plaintiffs, the defendants, and the courts in the current cases take from the remedy experience in Microsoft? Are the government plaintiffs once again in danger of “losing the cause”? Will the constraints on remedies in law enforcement actions lead to greater interest in regulatory solutions in the U.S. for tech platforms, such as those that are being implemented in the EU and UK?

Watch Panel 3 – The Challenge of Remedy here.  

Participants:

• Alexandre DE STREEL | Academic Director, CERRE; Professor of European Law, University of Namur with Pierre LAROUCHE | Professeur de droit et innovation, University of Montreal Law
• William KOVACIC | Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy; Professor of Law; Director, Competition Law Center, George Washington University Law School
• Randal PICKER | James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law, The University of Chicago Law School
• Fiona M. SCOTT MORTON | Theodore Nierenberg Professor of Economics, Yale School of Management
• Tim WU | Julius Silver Professor of Law, Science and Technology, Columbia University Law School
• Moderator: Harry FIRST | Charles L. Denison Professor of Law Emeritus, New York University School of Law

The Microsoft @ 25: Impact, Influence, and Legacy symposium was held on February 21, 2025, at the NYU School of Law. Read more about the symposium.