Seven states are pushing back against the Department of Justice's assessment that the landmark antitrust settlement between the United States and Microsoft has removed the anticompetitive obstacles created by the software maker and resulted in more competition in the middleware market.

In fact, according to attorneys for California, Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, the commonwealth of Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, known as the "California Group" of plaintiffs, "Microsoft's market power remains undiminished and … key provisions of the final judgment—those relating to middleware— have had little or no competitively significant impact."

The disagreement and upcoming courtroom battle about whether or not the final judgment has resulted in more competition in the middleware market comes in a series of filings made to U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ahead of the next joint status conference between all the parties to be held on Sept. 11.

The matter is all the more critical given that most of the terms and conditions of Microsoft's antitrust settlement with the government are due to expire this November.