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When the richest man testified in court, the monopoly case of the United States of America v. Zheru Software began to enter the stage of real drama; And the tracking reports of various media naturally became dense all of a sudden. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

According to the summary of the gossip media, there are two major public figures in the United States at this stage, who have attracted much attention because they are caught in the whirlpool: one is US President Bill Collinton and the other is Tang Huan, the richest man in the world.

The former is suspected of obstructing justice because of the "zipper door" lying; The latter is suspected of monopolizing the industry because its companies are too powerful.

These two big dramas, whether they belong to the political ~ political struggle or the power game, are all superior and inferior.

As for the truth, it seems to be almost human.

As far as the United States, which has always regarded itself as a conservative society, the president of the world's largest power, has become the talk of the whole world after dinner because of his not very glorious "zipper door", which must have pulled the hind of its external image.

But factional disputes are like this, once they are pinched, they can't hold their hands, and they can't even take care of the interests of some countries.

Anyway, I'm the global boss, even if I make a fool of myself, who would dare to say anything to my face?

By contrast, the United States of America v. Zheru Software Inc. Monopoly case is incomparably grandiose. Anyone, at any time and in any place, can discuss openly and without any unspeakable concerns.

Look, only the world's largest power like ours is qualified to play such a lofty professional game of antitrust.

As a result, it is not difficult to imagine that the opening of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on July 10 will be like a festival for the media, with their eyes wide open and their ears pricked up, reluctant to miss any of the details.

The reality did not disappoint the people who watched the excitement, and the showdown between Zheru Software Company and the Ministry of Justice in court was fierce and exciting! Especially when the richest man testified in court, the picture became magnificent.

Judging from the content of this debate, the Ministry of Justice has collected some evidence worthy of making a big deal through a series of methods, including forcing Zheru Software to keep any paper documents, and released it all in the face of Tang IT, the ultimate boss.

It's just that as the richest man gives more and more answers such as "I don't know" and "I can't remember", Joel Klein's careful preparation is like a punch on cotton, and he can't find the focus at all.

The innocent look of the former and the constipated expression of the latter formed a sharp contrast, which made the reporters snicker in their hearts, and they all prepared the title of the report in advance

I have to say that David Boyce, the chief lawyer of Zheru Software's legal team, formulated an avoidance strategy for Tang Huan that was very effective, and Joel Klein was about to be suffocated from internal injuries.

After the conclusion of this day's lawsuit, no real progress has been made in the courtroom, except for some refreshing "fresh materials" compared with before.

But such a result will not be the slightest disappointment for the media who are gearing up.

……

That night, some well-known TV talk shows couldn't wait to make up jokes with the latest materials, and the center was the vague answers of the richest man, "I don't know" and "I can't remember".

The laughing point here is that Tang Huan's quick-thinking, wise and martial public image has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people; And the "fool" style during the day can only be described as "cheating".

The screenwriters summed up three so-called "confused" settings for Mr. The richest man:

How much money is there? I don't know!

How much money was donated? I don't know!

How many girl celebrities have you dated? Still don't know!

For example, the scenario around the first one:

The host imitated Tang Huan's style, looked at a magazine, and nodded frequently: "Yes, yes, they have already helped calculate that I now have a net worth of 120 billion US dollars." ”

The person who imitated the secretary reminded on the side: "Boss, the rich list you are reading in this magazine is from last year. ”

The host nodded abruptly, picked up another magazine, looked at the date, and then said to himself, "This is the latest issue." It turned out that my net worth had reached $250 billion. However, why does it feel so strange to look at the names behind me on the leaderboard? ”

The person who imitated the secretary reminded again: "Boss, you are looking at the list of the richest people around the world, and the list of the richest people in the United States is here." ”

……

Another example is the scenario around the second one:

The person who imitated the charity said gratefully to the host who imitated Tang Huan: "Don, thank you for your donation. ”

The host asked nonchalantly, "How about it, that million dollar donation, is it enough?" ”

The person who imitated the charity nodded again and again and replied, "Counting the $5 million you donated later, it is enough." ”

……

That night, after the entertainment of Mr. The richest man in the United States "cutely cute", the next day, the mainstream newspapers launched their own serious reports on the monopoly case of the United States of America v. Zheru Software, Inc., and this is the result of the real authoritative observation of the outside world.

First of all, these media almost unanimously believe that Zheru Software has used the right person, that is, it spared no expense to hire David Beuys to serve as the chief lawyer of Zheru Software's legal team.

You know, David Beuys used to provide antitrust legal services for the federal government~, and his qualifications can even be traced back to the late 1970s, when the Department of Justice sued IBM for monopoly.

It is not difficult to imagine that David Boyce is well aware of the way of thinking, psychological state, behavioral inertia and other characteristics of the federal government~government when conducting an antitrust investigation, and it is not an exaggeration to describe him as an "inner ghost", and then he can take the most direct and effective countermeasures in the process of serving Zheru Software Company.

For example, in yesterday's court of appeals for the Federal Circuit in the District of Columbia, the Justice Department repeatedly made big moves, but it just couldn't effectively hit the target, making Joel Klein's performance look a little childish and ridiculous.

Secondly, another point that the media sighed at was that Tang Huan, the boss, trusted David Boyce enough to accept the "avoidance strategy" suggested by the other party at the expense of his glorious image of "wise and martial" for many years, pretending to be stupid and ignorant of all questions.

Such a shrewd client, and an old and spicy lawyer, tacitly cooperated, and the defense was simply incomprehensible.

After a review of the strategies, methods, and so forth in the process of the game between the two parties, it is time to express their opinions and talk about the monopoly case of the United States of America v. Zheru Software Inc.

The views of the elites should naturally not be superficial and lively, but should grasp the essence through phenomena.

U.S. President Bill Clinton's "zippergate" that has caused a stir all over the world, soy sauce beaters only talk about his peachy insider story and moral trial, but the actual battlefield is whether he lied and obstructed justice.

Similarly, in the case of the United States of America v. Zheru Software Co., Ltd., the people who eat melons are just talking about how many heinous crimes Zheru Software Co., Ltd. has committed by taking advantage of its monopoly position, while they can only envy the level of things they are watching with jealousy and hatred.

It is no exaggeration to say that the case of the United States of America v. Zheru Software Inc. Monopoly is a philosophical issue that, even if the outcome is not out, is still thought-provoking and worthy of discussion.

First, the U.S. Department of Justice and the 20 federal states sued Zheru Software on the basis of the Sherman Antitrust Act passed in 1890.

And the essence of this thing is to stop the monopolist from harming the rights and interests of consumers.

On this basic point, Zheru Software firmly refuses to admit that it has infringed on the rights and interests of consumers.

For example, with regard to a crime found by the Ministry of Justice, Zheru Software Company crushed its competitors by integrating a series of free programs including browsers and media players into the operating system, and Zheru Software defended that this was a product enhancement that brought benefits to consumers, and set out a detailed table comparing the cost gap between the consumer's direct use of the operating system's own functions and the cost of purchasing a separate third-party program.

For another example, regarding the most hated common problems of monopolists, such as not wanting to forge ahead, not innovating, and only caring about making huge profits, Zheru Software Company even more justifiably retorted: It is the most innovative technology company, and only in terms of operating systems, through the excellence in the humanized operation interface, more and more ordinary people can use computers without obstacles.

There are so many points of debate like this.

Compared with the two-choice determination between the monopoly and no monopoly of the Ministry of Justice and the Zheru Software Company, the outside world generally believes that even if the Zheru Software Company constitutes a monopoly, it is only a "natural monopoly," which is different from the "traditional monopoly" conclusions of Standard Oil in the energy field in 1911 and AT&T in the telecommunications field in 1984, and should not be treated as a generalization.

This controversy is particularly acute at universities where Zheru Software has introduced special discounts for students and faculty that sell products for a few dollars to tens of dollars.

For example, the two expert witnesses hired by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in the District of Columbia are both opponents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

To the great surprise of the outside world, in the midst of this heated discussion, US Vice President Al Gore suddenly joined in.

What makes the media even more energetic and secretly shouting "the show is coming" is that his views are on the side of the Ministry of Justice.

Al Gore believes that the reason why Zheru Software Company has not shown the common problems of various monopolists, including not wanting to make progress, not innovating, and only caring about making huge profits, is because the progress and development of high technology have special attributes that are changing with each passing day.

The fact is that Zheru Software has seriously damaged the market operating environment, especially because it occupies the vast majority of the market share, creating a great obstacle to new market entrants, violating the principles of freedom ~ freedom and equal opportunity, and Netscape is a living example.

At the same time, instead of being squeezed by Zheru Software, consumers seem to have benefited from the other party, but at the cost of losing their most important "consumer sovereignty".

From a long-term perspective, perhaps, Zheru Software is very "noble" now, but no one dares to guarantee that in the future, it will not be able to withstand the temptation of huge profits, in order to continue to maintain its monopoly position, restrict competition, hinder innovation, and even affect the sustainable development of the entire industry and even the United States.

Al Gore's firing is amazing. It is not an exaggeration to say that the reaction from all walks of life was in an uproar.

Generally speaking, the vice president of the United States is a position that is far more symbolic than substantial. There are two statutory responsibilities.

First, the vice president of the United States is the first person to succeed the president of the United States. When an incumbent U.S. president becomes vacant, such as dies, resigns, or is impeached while in office, the vice president succeeds him as the new U.S. president.

But this is an extreme situation after all, although since World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt died of illness and was succeeded by Harry Truman; John F. Kennedy was assassinated and succeeded by Lyndon Johnson; There are precedents such as Richard Nixon's resignation due to the Watergate scandal and Gerald Ford's succession, but throughout the more than 200 years of history since the founding of the United States, there are only a few US vice presidents who can be so "lucky".

Second, the Vice President of the United States also serves as the Speaker of the U.S. Senate. However, under normal circumstances, he does not have the right to vote in the Senate, and only when the 100 members of the Senate vote are tied, the vote of the vice president has the actual right to decide, that is, it becomes the crucial vote.

However, the reality is that the U.S. Senate, which has a lot of experience in gambling, will hardly have such a stalemate, and it will have to labor its own Senate president, who usually does not show up, to vote for that decision.

Therefore, according to the provisions of the U.S. Constitution, a vice president is not allowed to have executive power, and in practice, how much authority he can have depends on how trustingly the U.S. president appoints him.

Take Reagan and Lao Bu Shi, the partners of the president and vice president of the United States, for example, because after Reagan's assassination, Lao Bu Shi behaved very calmly with extremely high political ~ political wisdom, and did not rush to the White House to ask about the succession, so Reagan trusted Lao Bu Shi very much, gave him a lot of power, and even let him act as his agent during his own surgery.

Al Gore, by contrast, is very different.

Before becoming vice president of the United States, he proposed and passed the "Gore Act of 1991", which aimed to vigorously develop the American IT industry.

After Bill Clinton took office in 1993, he implemented the "information highway" construction plan in the United States, and Al Gore actively participated in it.

In other words, the US vice president was born with a high-tech aura and had always had a good relationship with Don IT before; But why did he suddenly get into trouble now, and in the monopoly case of the United States of America v. Zheru Software Inc., he openly stood on the opposite side of the richest man?