IP: believe who you will Canada urging Microsoft to move north

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

>From: "Niall Kennedy" <niallk@ucla.edu>
>To: <farber@cis.upenn.edu>
>Subject: RE: Canada urging Microsoft to move north
>Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2000 14:59:55 -0700
>
>
> >From Reuters:
>
>SEATTLE--Microsoft and Canadian officials today poured cold water on reports
>authorities in British Columbia were trying to lure the software behemoth
>north amid its antitrust battle with the U.S. government.
>
>Microsoft, which has been in the Seattle area since the late 1970s and
>employs nearly 20,000 people in its sprawling corporate campus in Redmond,
>Wash., said it was staying put.
>
>  "There is no truth to the reports of any intent to move the company,"
>Microsoft spokesman Jim Cullinan said.
>
>A report on the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) Web site said that by
>moving its headquarters into Canada, Microsoft would frustrate attempts by
>U.S. antitrust officials to break up the company.
>
>"Microsoft believes we will win this (antitrust) case in the (U.S. federal)
>court of appeals, and we are very happy here in Seattle," Cullinan said.
>
>The BBC report said officials in British Columbia had offered to do a deal
>with Microsoft that could include a loan to build a new headquarters.
>
>B.C. Investment Minister Gordon Wilson, whose office was cited as the source
>of the offer, said the rumor that the province had offered an incentive deal
>began with a California newsletter on technology stocks.
>
>"I haven't had any formal talks with anyone with Microsoft," Wilson told
>reporters in Victoria, the province's capital.
>
>Other Canadian observers said it was unlikely that the world's biggest
>software company would pack up and move.
>
>"I wouldn't put much credence in it, quite frankly," Darcy Rezac, managing
>director of the Vancouver Board of Trade, said of the BBC report.
>
>"Microsoft may have its battles with the U.S. government, but it's an
>excellent corporate citizen of Seattle. The suggestion that they'd move
>their headquarters to Vancouver would be wonderful if it were possible, but
>I just wouldn't put credence in it."
>
>"I think it's just a little bit of puffery coming out of California by
>people in the industry who think that Microsoft has been badly treated,"
>said Frank Came, executive director of the Vancouver Economic Development
>Commission (VEDC).
>
>Cullinan said Microsoft has received suggestions over the years from
>countries such as Norway, Ireland and China that it should relocate its
>headquarters or build a large presence outside of the United States.
>
>Microsoft, founded in Albuquerque, N.M., in 1975, relocated to Bellevue,
>Wash. in January 1979 and to its current Redmond site in 1986.
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: owner-ip-sub-1@admin.listbox.com
>[mailto:owner-ip-sub-1@admin.listbox.com]On Behalf Of David Farber
>Sent: Friday, June 02, 2000 2:56 PM
>To: ip
>Subject: IP: Canada urging Microsoft to move north
>
>
>SEATTLE--Canada is encouraging software giant Microsoft to relocate its
>operations to British Columbia, according to reports.
>
>Any agreement may hinder the U.S. government's efforts to break up the
>company. Still, Microsoft denied it is discussing the matter with British
>Columbian authorities, British Broadcasting said without citing sources.
>
>U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson yesterday delayed issuing for at
>least a week an order expected to split Microsoft, granting the government's
>request to file additional legal briefs.
>
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