FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1995                              (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

           COURT OF APPEALS OVERTURNS DISTRICT COURT'S
                   DECISION IN MICROSOFT CASE 
                                 
Attorney General Janet Reno and Assistant Attorney General 
Anne K. Bingaman made the following statements today regarding
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
decision to order entry of last July's consent decree negotiated
by the Department and Microsoft Corporation prohibiting certain
anticompetitive licensing practices by Microsoft:

     Attorney General Janet Reno stated: 

     "We are gratified by the court's decision.  It confirms our
own understanding of the appropriate roles of the courts and the
Department of Justice in the enforcement of the antitrust laws.
     
     "The Court of Appeals' opinion is based on the fundamental
truth that only a prosecutor who has reviewed all of the facts
under the applicable law in the course of an investigation can
decide which charges or claims are made out at that time by the
evidence.  The Department has an obligation to enforce the law
fairly and fully under the facts known to it and it will continue
to discharge that obligation in the highest traditions of the
American legal system."

     Anne K. Bingaman, Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Antitrust Division, stated:

     "The Court of Appeals' decision clarifies an important area
of law, both for the Department of Justice and for private
parties who enter into consent decrees with the Department.  The
opinion handed down today will serve as a precedent and guide for
many years in many other situations.  We are glad to have the
clear exposition this opinion gives of the respective roles of
the Department and a federal court in reviewing antitrust consent
decrees under the Tunney Act."

     The court held that the Tunney Act, which authorizes federal
courts to review consent decrees in antitrust cases does not
allow judges "to reach beyond the complaint to evaluate claims
that the government did not make and to inquire as to why they
were not made."  In essence, the court concluded, "The Tunney Act
cannot be interpreted as an authorization for a district judge to
assume the role of Attorney General."
                               ###
95-343