Microsoft Bid for Netscape Tapes Rejected

Microsoft Corp. lost a bid for access to taped interviews with Netscape Communications Corp. executives who admitted they made mistakes in their battle with the software giant. Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft had hoped the interviews done by two professors for a book would be strong evidence against the federal government’s antitrust lawsuit. The several hours of tapes include interviews with Netscape Chairman Jim Barksdale, company co-founder Marc Andreessen and more than 40 other employees. They contain off-the-record comments, private conversations and admissions of strategic missteps, said Michael Cusumano, one of the authors and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Microsoft is eager to find evidence that may show Mountain View, Calif.-based Netscape’s own business blunders--not Microsoft’s allegedly illegal conduct--caused Netscape’s Internet browser software to founder while Microsoft’s grew in popularity. But U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns said the professors had shown that the tapes were made in confidence. Separately, a journalist following the Microsoft legal battles said the company subpoenaed him earlier this week to produce documents related to two stories he wrote last month. Dan Goodin of Cnet Inc.’s online technology news service, declined to comment further than to confirm receiving the subpoena. Microsoft fell $2.94 to $91.19, while Netscape fell 75 cents to $16.31, both on the Nasdaq.