V. Trial Proceedings and Remedy

Microsoft additionally challenges the District Court's procedural rulings on two fronts. First, with respect to the trial phase, Microsoft proposes that the court mismanaged its docket by adopting an expedited trial schedule and receiving evidence through summary witnesses. Second, with respect to the remedies decree, Microsoft argues that the court improperly ordered that it be divided into two separate companies. Only the latter claim will long detain us. The District Court's trial-phase procedures were comfortably within the bounds of its broad discretion to conduct trials as it sees fit. We conclude, however, that the District Court's remedies decree must be vacated for three independent reasons: (1) the court failed to hold a remedies-specific evidentiary hearing when there were disputed facts; (2) the court failed to provide adequate reasons for its decreed remedies; and (3) this Court has revised the scope of Microsoft's liability and it is impossible to determine to what extent that should affect the remedies provisions.

A. Factual Background

On April 3, 2000, the District Court concluded the liability phase of the proceedings by the filing of its Conclusions of Law holding that Microsoft had violated ss 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act. The court and the parties then began discussions of the procedures to be followed in the imposition of remedies. Initially, the District Court signaled that it would enter relief only after conducting a new round of proceedings. In its Conclusions of Law, the court stated that it would issue a remedies order "following proceedings to be established by further Order of the Court." Conclusions of Law, at 57. And, when during a post-trial conference, Microsoft's counsel asked whether the court "contemplate[d] further proceedings," the judge replied, "Yes. Yes. I assume that there would be further proceedings." 4/4/00 Tr. at 8-9, 11, reprinted in 4 J.A. at 2445-46, 2448. The District Court further speculated that those proceedings might "replicate the procedure at trial with testimony in written form subject to cross-examination." Id. at 11, reprinted in 4 J.A. at 2448.

On April 28, 2000, plaintiffs submitted their proposed final judgment, accompanied by six new supporting affidavits and several exhibits. In addition to a series of temporary conduct restrictions, plaintiffs proposed that Microsoft be split into two independent corporations, with one continuing Microsoft's operating systems business and the other undertaking the balance of Microsoft's operations. Plaintiffs' Proposed Final Judgment at 2-3, reprinted in 4 J.A. at 2473-74. Microsoft filed a "summary response" on May 10, contending both that the proposed decree was too severe and that it would be impossible to resolve certain remedies-specific factual disputes "on a highly expedited basis." Defendant's Summary Response at 6-7, reprinted in 4 J.A. at 2587-88. Another May 10 submission argued that if the District Court considered imposing plaintiffs' proposed remedy, "then substantial discovery, adequate time for preparation and a full trial on relief will be required." Defendant's Position as to Future Proceedings at 2, reprinted in 4 J.A. at 2646.

After the District Court revealed during a May 24 hearing that it was prepared to enter a decree without conducting "any further process," 5/24/00 pm Tr. at 33, reprinted in 14 J.A. at 9866, Microsoft renewed its argument that the underlying factual disputes between the parties necessitated a remedies-specific evidentiary hearing. In two separate offers of proof, Microsoft offered to produce a number of pieces of evidence, including the following:

Testimony from Dr. Robert Crandall, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, that divestiture and dissolution orders historically have "failed to improve economic welfare by reducing prices or increasing output." Defendant's Offer of Proof at 2, reprinted in 4 J.A. at 2743.

Testimony from Professor Kenneth Elzinga, Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia, that plaintiffs' proposed remedies would not induce entry into the operating systems market. Id. at 4, reprinted in 4 J.A. at 2745.

Testimony from Dean Richard Schmalensee, Dean of MIT's Sloan School of Management, that dividing Microsoft likely would "harm consumers through higher prices, lower output, reduced efficiency, and less innovation" and would "produce immediate, substantial increases in the prices of both Windows and Office." Id. at 8, reprinted in 4 J.A. at 2749. In- deed, it would cause the price of Windows to triple. Id.

Testimony from Goldman, Sachs & Co. and from Morgan Stanley Dean Witter that dissolution would adversely affect shareholder value. Id. at 17, 19, reprinted in 4 J.A. at 2758, 2760.

Testimony from Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates that dividing Microsoft "along the arbitrary lines proposed by the Government" would devastate the company's proposed Next Generation Windows Services plat- form, which would allow software developers to write web-based applications that users could access from a wide range of devices. Id. at 21-22, reprinted in 4 J.A. at 2762-63.

Testimony from Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's President and CEO, that Microsoft is organized as a unified company and that "there are no natural lines along which Microsoft could be broken up without causing serious problems." Id. at 23, reprinted in 4 J.A. at 2764.

Testimony from Michael Capellas, CEO of Compaq, that splitting Microsoft in two "will make it more difficult for OEMs to provide customers with the tightly integrated product offerings they demand" in part because "complementary products created by unrelated companies do not work as well together as products created by a single company." Defendant's Supplemental Offer of Proof at 2, reprinted in 4 J.A. at 2823.

Over Microsoft's objections, the District Court proceeded to consider the merits of the remedy and on June 7, 2000 entered its final judgment. The court explained that it would not conduct "extended proceedings on the form a remedy should take," because it doubted that an evidentiary hearing would "give any significantly greater assurance that it will be able to identify what might be generally regarded as an optimum remedy." Final Judgment, at 62. The bulk of Microsoft's proffered facts were simply conjectures about future events, and "[i]n its experience the Court has found testimonial predictions of future events generally less reliable even than testimony as to historical fact, and cross- examination to be of little use in enhancing or detracting from their accuracy." Id. Nor was the court swayed by Microsoft's "profession of surprise" at the possibility of structural relief. Id. at 61. "From the inception of this case Microsoft knew, from well-established Supreme Court precedents dating from the beginning of the last century, that a mandated divestiture was a possibility, if not a probability, in the event of an adverse result at trial." Id.

The substance of the District Court's remedies order is nearly identical to plaintiffs' proposal. The decree's centerpiece is the requirement that Microsoft submit a proposed plan of divestiture, with the company to be split into an "Operating Systems Business," or "OpsCo," and an "Applications Business," or "AppsCo." Final Judgment, Decree ss 1.a, l.c.i, at 64. OpsCo would receive all of Microsoft's operating systems, such as Windows 98 and Windows 2000, while AppsCo would receive the remainder of Microsoft's businesses, including IE and Office. The District Court identified four reasons for its "reluctant[ ]" conclusion that "a structural remedy has become imperative." Id. at 62. First, Microsoft "does not yet concede that any of its business practices violated the Sherman Act." Id. Second, the company consequently "continues to do business as it has in the past." Id. Third, Microsoft "has proved untrustworthy in the past." Id. And fourth, the Government, whose officials "are by reason of office obliged and expected to consider -- and to act in -- the public interest," won the case, "and for that reason alone have some entitlement to a remedy of their choice." Id. at 62-63.

The decree also contains a number of interim restrictions on Microsoft's conduct. For instance, Decree s 3.b requires Microsoft to disclose to third-party developers the APIs and other technical information necessary to ensure that software effectively interoperates with Windows. Id. at 67. "To facilitate compliance," s 3.b further requires that Microsoft establish "a secure facility" at which third-party representatives may "study, interrogate and interact with relevant and necessary portions of [Microsoft platform software] source code." Id. Section 3.e, entitled "Ban on Exclusive Dealing," forbids Microsoft from entering contracts which oblige third parties to restrict their "development, production, distribution, promotion or use of, or payment for" non-Microsoft platform-level software. Id. at 68. Under Decree s 3.f--"Ban on Contractual Tying"--the company may not condition its grant of a Windows license on a party's agreement "to license, promote, or distribute any other Microsoft software product." Id. And s 3.g imposes a "Restriction on Binding Middleware Products to Operating System Products" unless Microsoft also offers consumers "an otherwise identical version" of the operating system without the middleware. Id.

B. Trial Proceedings

Microsoft's first contention--that the District Court erred by adopting an expedited trial schedule and receiving evidence through summary witnesses--is easily disposed of. Trial courts have extraordinarily broad discretion to determine the manner in which they will conduct trials. "This is particularly true in a case such as the one at bar where the proceedings are being tried to the court without a jury." Eli Lilly & Co., Inc. v. Generix Drug Sales, Inc., 460 F.2d 1096, 1105 (5th Cir. 1972). In such cases, "[a]n appellate court will not interfere with the trial court's exercise of its discretion to control its docket and dispatch its business ... except upon the clearest showing that the procedures have resulted in actual and substantial prejudice to the complaining litigant." Id. Microsoft fails to clear this high hurdle. Although the company claims that setting an early trial date inhibited its ability to conduct discovery, it never identified a specific deposition or document it was unable to obtain. And while Microsoft now argues that the use of summary witnesses made inevitable the improper introduction of hearsay evidence, the company actually agreed to the District Court's proposal to limit each side to 12 summary witnesses. 12/2/98 am Tr. at 11, reprinted in 21 J.A. at 14083 (court admonishing Microsoft's counsel to "[k]eep in mind that both sides agreed to the number of witnesses"). Even absent Microsoft's agreement, the company's challenge fails to show that this use of summary witnesses falls outside the trial court's wide latitude to receive evidence as it sees fit. General Elec. Co. v. Joiner, 522 U.S. 136, 141-42 (1997). This is particularly true given the presumption that a judge who conducts a bench trial has ignored any inadmissible evidence, Harris v. Rivera, 454 U.S. 339, 346 (1981)--a presumption that Microsoft makes no serious attempt to overcome. Indeed, under appropriate circumstances with appropriate instructions, we have in the past approved the use of summary witnesses even in jury trials. See, e.g., United States v. Lemire, 720 F.2d 1327 (D.C. Cir. 1983). Therefore, neither the use of the summary witnesses nor any other aspect of the District Court's conduct of the trial phase amounted to an abuse of discretion.

C. Failure to Hold an Evidentiary Hearing

The District Court's remedies-phase proceedings are a different matter. It is a cardinal principle of our system of justice that factual disputes must be heard in open court and resolved through trial-like evidentiary proceedings. Any other course would be contrary "to the spirit which imbues our judicial tribunals prohibiting decision without hearing." Sims v. Greene, 161 F.2d 87, 88 (3d Cir. 1947).

A party has the right to judicial resolution of disputed facts not just as to the liability phase, but also as to appropriate relief. "Normally, an evidentiary hearing is required before an injunction may be granted." United States v. McGee, 714 F.2d 607, 613 (6th Cir. 1983); see also Charlton v. Estate of Charlton, 841 F.2d 988, 989 (9th Cir. 1988) ("Generally the entry or continuation of an injunction requires a hearing. Only when the facts are not in dispute, or when the adverse party has waived its right to a hearing, can that significant procedural step be eliminated." (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)). Other than a temporary restraining order, no injunctive relief may be entered without a hearing. See generally Fed. R. Civ. P. 65. A hearing on the merits-- i.e., a trial on liability--does not substitute for a relief-specific evidentiary hearing unless the matter of relief was part of the trial on liability, or unless there are no disputed factual issues regarding the matter of relief.

This rule is no less applicable in antitrust cases. The Supreme Court "has recognized that a 'full exploration of facts is usually necessary in order (for the District Court) properly to draw (an antitrust) decree' so as 'to prevent future violations and eradicate existing evils.' " United States v. Ward Baking Co., 376 U.S. 327, 330-31 (1964) (quoting Associated Press v. United States, 326 U.S. 1, 22 (1945)). Hence a remedies decree must be vacated whenever there is "a bona fide disagreement concerning substantive items of relief which could be resolved only by trial." Id. at 334; cf. Sims, 161 F.2d at 89 ("It has never been supposed that a temporary injunction could issue under the Clayton Act without giving the party against whom the injunction was sought an opportunity to present evidence on his behalf.").

Despite plaintiffs' protestations, there can be no serious doubt that the parties disputed a number of facts during the remedies phase. In two separate offers of proof, Microsoft identified 23 witnesses who, had they been permitted to testify, would have challenged a wide range of plaintiffs' factual representations, including the feasibility of dividing Microsoft, the likely impact on consumers, and the effect of divestiture on shareholders. To take but two examples, where plaintiffs' economists testified that splitting Microsoft in two would be socially beneficial, the company offered to prove that the proposed remedy would "cause substantial social harm by raising software prices, lowering rates of innovation and disrupting the evolution of Windows as a software development platform." Defendant's Offer of Proof at 6, reprinted in 4 J.A. at 2747. And where plaintiffs' investment banking experts proposed that divestiture might actually increase shareholder value, Microsoft proffered evidence that structural relief "would inevitably result in a significant loss of shareholder value," a loss that could reach "tens--possibly hundreds--of billions of dollars." Id. at 19, reprinted in 4 J.A. at 2760.

Indeed, the District Court itself appears to have conceded the existence of acute factual disagreements between Microsoft and plaintiffs. The court acknowledged that the parties were "sharply divided" and held "divergent opinions" on the likely results of its remedies decree. Final Judgment, at 62. The reason the court declined to conduct an evidentiary hearing was not because of the absence of disputed facts, but because it believed that those disputes could be resolved only through "actual experience," not further proceedings. Id. But a prediction about future events is not, as a prediction, any less a factual issue. Indeed, the Supreme Court has acknowledged that drafting an antitrust decree by necessity "involves predictions and assumptions concerning future economic and business events." Ford Motor Co. v. United States, 405 U.S. 562, 578 (1972). Trial courts are not excused from their obligation to resolve such matters through evidentiary hearings simply because they consider the bedrock procedures of our justice system to be "of little use." Final Judgment, at 62.

The presence of factual disputes thus distinguishes this case from the decisions plaintiffs cite for the proposition that Microsoft was not entitled to an evidentiary hearing. Indeed, far from assisting plaintiffs, these cases actually confirm the proposition that courts must hold evidentiary hearings when they are confronted with disputed facts. In Ford Motor Co., the Supreme Court affirmed a divestiture order after emphasizing that the District Court had "held nine days of hearings on the remedy." 405 U.S. at 571. In Davoll v. Webb, 194 F.3d 1116 (10th Cir. 1999), the defendant both failed to submit any offers of proof, and waived its right to an evidentiary hearing by expressly agreeing that relief should be determined based solely on written submissions. Id. at 1142-43. The defendants in American Can Co. v. Mansukhani, 814 F.2d 421 (7th Cir. 1987), were not entitled to a hearing on remedies because they failed "to explain to the district court what new proof they would present to show" that the proposed remedy was unwarranted. Id. at 425. And in Socialist Workers Party v. Illinois State Board of Elections, 566 F.2d 586 (7th Cir. 1977), aff'd, 440 U.S. 173 (1979), the Seventh Circuit held that a remedies-specific hearing was unnecessary because that case involved a pure question of legal interpretation and hence "[t]here was no factual dispute as to the ground on which the injunction was ordered." Id. at 587.

Unlike the parties in Davoll, American Can, and Socialist Workers Party, Microsoft both repeatedly asserted its right to an evidentiary hearing and submitted two offers of proof. The company's "summary response" to the proposed remedy argued that it would be "impossible" to address underlying factual issues "on a highly expedited basis," Defendant's Summary Response at 6-7, reprinted in 4 J.A. at 2587-88, and Microsoft further maintained that the court could not issue a decree unless it first permitted "substantial discovery, adequate time for preparation and a full trial on relief." Defendant's Position as to Future Proceedings at 2, reprinted in 4 J.A. at 2646. And in 53 pages of submissions, Microsoft identified the specific evidence it would introduce to challenge plaintiffs' representations.

Plaintiffs further argue--and the District Court held--that no evidentiary hearing was necessary given that Microsoft long had been on notice that structural relief was a distinct possibility. It is difficult to see why this matters. Whether Microsoft had advance notice that dissolution was in the works is immaterial to whether the District Court violated the company's procedural rights by ordering it without an evidentiary hearing. To be sure, "claimed surprise at the district court's decision to consider permanent injunctive relief does not, alone, merit reversal." Socialist Workers, 566 F.2d at 587. But in this case, Microsoft's professed surprise does not stand "alone." There is something more: the company's basic procedural right to have disputed facts resolved through an evidentiary hearing.

In sum, the District Court erred when it resolved the parties' remedies-phase factual disputes by consulting only the evidence introduced during trial and plaintiffs' remedies-phase submissions, without considering the evidence Microsoft sought to introduce. We therefore vacate the District Court's final judgment, and remand with instructions to conduct a remedies-specific evidentiary hearing.

D. Failure to Provide an Adequate Explanation

We vacate the District Court's remedies decree for the additional reason that the court has failed to provide an adequate explanation for the relief it ordered. The Supreme Court has explained that a remedies decree in an antitrust case must seek to "unfetter a market from anticompetitive conduct," Ford Motor Co., 405 U.S. at 577, to "terminate the illegal monopoly, deny to the defendant the fruits of its statutory violation, and ensure that there remain no practices likely to result in monopolization in the future," United States v. United Shoe Mach. Corp., 391 U.S. 244, 250 (1968); see also United States v. Grinnell Corp., 384 U.S. 563, 577 (1966).

The District Court has not explained how its remedies decree would accomplish those objectives. Indeed, the court devoted a mere four paragraphs of its order to explaining its reasons for the remedy. They are: (1) Microsoft "does not yet concede that any of its business practices violated the Sherman Act"; (2) Microsoft "continues to do business as it has in the past"; (3) Microsoft "has proved untrustworthy in the past"; and (4) the Government, whose officials "are by reason of office obliged and expected to consider--and to act in--the public interest," won the case, "and for that reason alone have some entitlement to a remedy of their choice." Final Judgment, at 62-63. Nowhere did the District Court discuss the objectives the Supreme Court deems relevant.

E. Modification of Liability

Quite apart from its procedural difficulties, we vacate the District Court's final judgment in its entirety for the additional, independent reason that we have modified the underlying bases of liability. Of the three antitrust violations originally identified by the District Court, one is no longer viable: attempted monopolization of the browser market in violation of Sherman Act s 2. One will be remanded for liability proceedings under a different legal standard: unlawful tying in violation of s 1. Only liability for the s 2 monopoly-maintenance violation has been affirmed--and even that we have revised. Ordinarily, of course, we review the grant or denial of equitable relief under the abuse of discretion standard. See, e.g., Doran v. Salem Inn, Inc., 422 U.S. 922, 931-32 (1975) ("[T]he standard of appellate review is simply whether the issuance of the injunction, in the light of the applicable standard, constituted an abuse of discretion."). For obvious reasons, the application of that standard is not sufficient to sustain the remedy in the case before us. We cannot determine whether the District Court has abused its discretion in remedying a wrong where the court did not exercise that discretion in order to remedy the properly determined wrong. That is, the District Court determined that the conduct restrictions and the pervasive structural remedy were together appropriate to remedy the three antitrust violations set forth above. The court did not exercise its discretion to determine whether all, or for that matter, any, of those equitable remedies were required to rectify a s 2 monopoly maintenance violation taken alone. We therefore cannot sustain an exercise of discretion not yet made.

By way of comparison, in Spectrum Sports, Inc. v. McQuillan, 506 U.S. 447 (1993), the Supreme Court reviewed a damages award in a Sherman Act case. In that case, the trial court entered judgment upon a jury verdict which did not differentiate among multiple possible theories of liability under s 2. The Supreme Court ultimately determined that the trial record could not legally support a finding that the defendant had committed an illegal attempt to monopolize, and that "the trial instructions allowed the jury to infer specific intent and dangerous probability of success from the defendants' predatory conduct, without any proof of the relevant market or of a realistic probability that the defendants could achieve monopoly power in that market." Id. at 459. Therefore, the High Court reversed the Ninth Circuit's judgment affirming the District Court and remanded for further proceedings, expressly because "the jury's verdict did not negate the possibility that the s 2 verdict rested on the attempt to monopolize grounds alone...." Id. Similarly, here, we cannot presume that a District Court would exercise its discretion to fashion the same remedy where the erroneous grounds of liability were stripped from its consideration.

The Eighth Circuit confronted a similar problem in Concord Boat Corp. v. Brunswick Corp., 207 F.3d 1039 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 121 S. Ct. 428 (2000). In that case, a group of boat builders brought an action against an engine manufacturer alleging violations of Sherman Act ss 1 and 2, and Clayton Act s 7. After a 10-week trial, the jury found Brunswick liable on all three counts and returned a verdict for over $44 million. On appeal, the Eighth Circuit reversed the Clayton Act claim. Id. at 1053. That court held that, as a consequence, it was required to vacate the jury's remedy in its entirety. Because the "verdict form did not require the jury to consider what damages resulted from each type of violation," the court could not "know what damages it found to have been caused by the acquisitions upon which the Section 7 claims were based." Id. at 1054. The court rejected the proposition that "the entire damage award may be upheld based on Brunswick's Sherman Act liability alone," id. at 1053, holding that, because "there is no way to know what damages the jury assigned to the Section 7 claims," the defendant "would be entitled at the very least to a new damages trial on the boat builders' Sherman Act claims," id. at 1054.

Spectrum Sports and Concord Boat are distinguishable from the case before us in that both involved the award of money damages rather than equitable relief. Nonetheless, their reasoning is instructive. A court in both contexts must base its relief on some clear "indication of a significant causal connection between the conduct enjoined or mandated and the violation found directed toward the remedial goal intended." 3 Phillip E. Areeda & Herbert Hovenkamp, Antitrust Law p 653(b), at 91-92 (1996). In a case such as the one before us where sweeping equitable relief is employed to remedy multiple violations, and some--indeed most--of the findings of remediable violations do not withstand appellate scrutiny, it is necessary to vacate the remedy decree since the implicit findings of causal connection no longer exist to warrant our deferential affirmance.

In short, we must vacate the remedies decree in its entirety and remand the case for a new determination. This court has drastically altered the District Court's conclusions on liability. On remand, the District Court, after affording the parties a proper opportunity to be heard, can fashion an appropriate remedy for Microsoft's antitrust violations. In particular, the court should consider which of the decree's conduct restrictions remain viable in light of our modification of the original liability decision. While the task of drafting the remedies decree is for the District Court in the first instance, because of the unusually convoluted nature of the proceedings thus far, and a desire to advance the ultimate resolution of this important controversy, we offer some further guidance for the exercise of that discretion.

F. On Remand

As a general matter, a district court is afforded broad discretion to enter that relief it calculates will best remedy the conduct it has found to be unlawful. See, e.g., Woerner v. United States Small Bus. Admin., 934 F.2d 1277, 1279 (D.C. Cir. 1991) (recognizing that an appellate court reviews a trial court's decision whether or not to grant equitable relief only for an abuse of discretion). This is no less true in antitrust cases. See, e.g., Ford Motor Co., 405 U.S. at 573 ("The District Court is clothed with 'large discretion' to fit the decree to the special needs of the individual case."); Md. & Va. Milk Producers Ass'n, Inc. v. United States, 362 U.S. 458, 473 (1960) ("The formulation of decrees is largely left to the discretion of the trial court...."). And divestiture is a common form of relief in successful antitrust prosecutions: it is indeed "the most important of antitrust remedies." See, e.g., United States v. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 366 U.S. 316, 331 (1961).

On remand, the District Court must reconsider whether the use of the structural remedy of divestiture is appropriate with respect to Microsoft, which argues that it is a unitary company. By and large, cases upon which plaintiffs rely in arguing for the split of Microsoft have involved the dissolution of entities formed by mergers and acquisitions. On the contrary, the Supreme Court has clarified that divestiture "has traditionally been the remedy for Sherman Act violations whose heart is intercorporate combination and control," du Pont, 366 U.S. at 329 (emphasis added), and that "[c]omplete divestiture is particularly appropriate where asset or stock acquisitions violate the antitrust laws," Ford Motor Co., 405 U.S. at 573 (emphasis added).

One apparent reason why courts have not ordered the dissolution of unitary companies is logistical difficulty. As the court explained in United States v. ALCOA, 91 F. Supp. 333, 416 (S.D.N.Y. 1950), a "corporation, designed to operate effectively as a single entity, cannot readily be dismembered of parts of its various operations without a marked loss of efficiency." A corporation that has expanded by acquiring its competitors often has preexisting internal lines of division along which it may more easily be split than a corporation that has expanded from natural growth. Although time and corporate modifications and developments may eventually fade those lines, at least the identifiable entities preexisted to create a template for such division as the court might later decree. With reference to those corporations that are not acquired by merger and acquisition, Judge Wyzanski accurately opined in United Shoe:

United conducts all machine manufacture at one plant in Beverly, with one set of jigs and tools, one foundry, one laboratory for machinery problems, one managerial staff, and one labor force. It takes no Solomon to see that this organism cannot be cut into three equal and viable parts.

United States v. United Shoe Machine Co., 110 F. Supp. 295, 348 (D. Mass. 1953).

Depending upon the evidence, the District Court may find in a remedies proceeding that it would be no easier to split Microsoft in two than United Shoe in three. Microsoft's Offer of Proof in response to the court's denial of an evidentiary hearing included proffered testimony from its President and CEO Steve Ballmer that the company "is, and always has been, a unified company without free-standing business units. Microsoft is not the result of mergers or acquisitions." Microsoft further offered evidence that it is "not organized along product lines," but rather is housed in a single corporate headquarters and that it has

only one sales and marketing organization which is responsible for selling all of the company's products, one basic research organization, one product support organization, one operations department, one information technology department, one facilities department, one purchasing department, one human resources department, one finance department, one legal department and one public relations department.

Defendant's Offer of Proof at 23-26, reprinted in 4 J.A. at 2764-67. If indeed Microsoft is a unitary company, division might very well require Microsoft to reproduce each of these departments in each new entity rather than simply allocate the differing departments among them.

In devising an appropriate remedy, the District Court also should consider whether plaintiffs have established a sufficient causal connection between Microsoft's anticompetitive conduct and its dominant position in the OS market. "Mere existence of an exclusionary act does not itself justify full feasible relief against the monopolist to create maximum competition." 3 Areeda & Hovenkamp, Antitrust Law p 650a, at 67. Rather, structural relief, which is "designed to eliminate the monopoly altogether ... require[s] a clearer indication of a significant causal connection between the conduct and creation or maintenance of the market power." Id. p 653b, at 91-92 (emphasis added). Absent such causation, the antitrust defendant's unlawful behavior should be remedied by "an injunction against continuation of that conduct." Id. p 650a, at 67.

As noted above, see supra Section II.C, we have found a causal connection between Microsoft's exclusionary conduct and its continuing position in the operating systems market only through inference. See 3 Areeda & Hovenkamp, Antitrust Law p 653(b), at 91-92 (suggesting that "more extensive equitable relief, particularly remedies such as divestiture designed to eliminate the monopoly altogether, ... require a clearer indication of significant causal connection between the conduct and creation or maintenance of the market power"). Indeed, the District Court expressly did not adopt the position that Microsoft would have lost its position in the OS market but for its anticompetitive behavior. Findings of Fact p 411 ("There is insufficient evidence to find that, absent Microsoft's actions, Navigator and Java already would have ignited genuine competition in the market for Intel-compatible PC operating systems."). If the court on remand is unconvinced of the causal connection between Microsoft's exclusionary conduct and the company's position in the OS market, it may well conclude that divestiture is not an appropriate remedy.

While we do not undertake to dictate to the District Court the precise form that relief should take on remand, we note again that it should be tailored to fit the wrong creating the occasion for the remedy.

G. Conclusion

In sum, we vacate the District Court's remedies decree for three reasons. First, the District Court failed to hold an evidentiary hearing despite the presence of remedies-specific factual disputes. Second, the court did not provide adequate reasons for its decreed remedies. Finally, we have drastically altered the scope of Microsoft's liability, and it is for the District Court in the first instance to determine the propriety of a specific remedy for the limited ground of liability which we have upheld.