US law officials have joined forces to consider a national anti-trust battle against the computer software giant, Microsoft.

Several state attorneys general have said they may collaborate on a multi-state action against the software giant.

The Connecticut Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal, said he expected that the state attorneys general would decide by early next year whether to take action against Microsoft.

But he added that "action by the states is close to a certainty."

If the attorneys general decide to pursue the case, they will complicate Microsoft's mounting legal woes.

BBC Correspondent, Tom Carver, reports on the Justice Department case (1'17")

Microsoft is already under fire from the US Justice Department, which has asked a federal judge to hold Microsoft in "civil contempt" for violating a court order that barred the software giant from tying Windows 95 to its Web browser.

The Justice Department recommends a $1m-a-day fine if Microsoft fails to follow a new order by the judge.

Mr Blumenthal said the state officers had not yet determined whether they will file separate actions or seek to intervene in the Justice Department lawsuit. He said they were holding conference calls and would possibly meet soon to determine how they might go forward.

Although it is not unusual for the attorneys general - usually the top legal officers of their states - to work together in bringing civil consumer fraud actions, their unified power has gained new respect since the tobacco deal was reached on June 20.

In a joint action, the attorneys general won $368.5bn in concessions from the powerful tobacco industry, which had boasted it never spent a cent on personal injury damages and would never settle a lawsuit.

Some of the same attorneys general who were involved in the tobacco talks, including Mr Blumenthal and those from Florida and New York, are also involved in the Microsoft discussions.

Representatives from nine states met in Chicago for three days last week to discuss a possible strategy for suing Microsoft. Other states involved in the talks are California, Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Massachusetts.

A Microsoft spokesman, Mark Murray, said Microsoft's rivals were largely to blame for the company's current wave of legal difficulties.

"I think there has been a coordinated effort by Microsoft's competition to try to gear up anti-Microsoft activity and try to use government as a weapon against Microsoft, rather than compete on the basis of product quality," he said.

Investors expressed concern about the widening probe of Microsoft, whose stock fell $3 to $136.06 in late trading on the Nasdaq market.
 

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