"This architecture has obvious benefits," Lessig wrote.
But he went on to write that a recent court ruling closely related to the current case--a ruling that supported Microsoft's interpretation of the facts--might not apply to the present situation.
Although the issues are similar, that decision technically was made in a different case--one where the Justice Department accused Microsoft of violating a "consent decree," an agreement with the federal government not to bundle Internet Explorer and Windows.
Lessig said the current situation is different because the government has accused the company of violating antitrust law, not just a consent decree.
There is "no reason to read an opinion interpreting a consent decree as interpreting the contours of antitrust law," he wrote.
In another section of the brief, Lessig took Microsoft and the Justice Department to task for not recognizing that antitrust law is "unsettled" on the question of tying software packages.
"Both sides are too quick to minimize the difficulty of how tying law properly applies to software products," he wrote.
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