Microsoft caused plenty of eye rolling and head shaking when it filed its response to the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit, claiming among other things that both the processes of the legislation and the FTC’s operation violated the company’s constitutional rights (and yes, corporate personhood is indeed a regrettable thing). However, a re-filed version of the complaint has cut that portion of the response out altogether.
According to Microsoft spokesperson David Cuddy, the initial filing’s incendiary language about constitutionality were originally included to “put all potential arguments on the table internally,” but he admits that the company should have dropped the arguments before it filed. Additionally, Activision’s response to the suit has also cut away the same complaints.
“The FTC has an important mission to protect competition and consumers, and we quickly updated our response to omit language suggesting otherwise based on the constitution,” said Cuddy. “We appreciated feedback about these defenses and are engaging directly with those who expressed concerns to make our position clear.”
