Japanese authorities raid Microsoft unit

[dArKeR]

TOKYO - Officials from Japan's fair trade watchdog raided the Japanese unit of software giant Microsoft Corp. on Thursday on suspicion of anti-monopoly law violations, the authorities said.

A spokeswoman at Microsoft Japan confirmed that the Fair Trade Commission inspected the Tokyo headquarters office but denied any wrongdoing. (MSNBC is a Microsoft-NBC joint venture.)

A commission official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said Microsoft Japan is suspected of attaching improper restrictive conditions when signing software deals with Japanese personal computer manufacturers, such as requiring that Japanese companies allow infringement of their patents.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4379990/

A serious question: Does anyone have the legal authority to raid the White House if they suspect illegal activity? Such as Congress? Or a citizen claiming a 'citizens' arrest'?

[mac2]

1. How about asking John Ashcroft to see if the terrorist are there?

[54anickel]

2. MS contracts with OEMs were at one time, part of the anti-trust suit

here in the US. The crap they put OEMs through to sell their OS is absolutely nuts! But that part of the investigation was sort of lost on the OS/software/IE bundling issue. Most OEMs did not want to rock the boat.