Microsoft Files Sought in Texas Probe

Microsoft Corp., target of a long-running series of federal antitrust investigations, has been asked to provide documents for a new Texas state probe of the Internet market, officials said. Mark Murray, a spokesman for the computer software giant, said Microsoft received a “civil investigative demand” Monday from the Texas attorney general’s office and that company lawyers expect to cooperate with state officials. Texas officials are investigating “the possibility of monopolization and other conduct in restraint of trade in the market for Internet software” in violation of state antitrust laws, Assistant Atty. Gen. Mark Tobey said in a letter to Microsoft. Among the documents requested in the wide-ranging demand are licensing agreements, strategic plans, budgets and financial projections, and all documents related to competition in the market for Internet or intranet software.