Judge Presses Microsoft on Data
In a setback for Microsoft Corp., a federal judge ordered the software giant to give the Justice Department potentially damaging information on its business dealings with Intel Corp., Apple Computer Inc. and other computer manufacturers.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who is presiding over the antitrust case, told Microsoft to provide the information to the government promptly.
The order came despite pleas by Microsoft attorney John Warden that turning over the requested information to the Justice Department could significantly delay the landmark trial, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 23.
“There has to be an end to what it is we have to prepare ourselves against,” Warden told Jackson. “Some of these things [sought by the Justice Department] are the subject of whole trials,” Warden added, referring to Microsoft’s pending litigation of software disputes with Sun Microsystems Inc. and software developer Caldera Inc.
In its motion, the Justice Department sought computerized data on Microsoft software sales and license deals with computer equipment makers; documents relating to meetings and communications between Intel and Microsoft Group Vice President Paul Maritz and/or Chairman Bill Gates from January 1995 to December 1997; communications between Microsoft and Apple executives from January 1996 to August 1998; and correspondence with Apple relating to its QuickTime multimedia software.
What’s more, the government moved to expand its case against the software giant on other fronts outside the courtroom.
The Justice Department has subpoenaed information from software developer Bristol Technology Inc. And antitrust investigators are set to depose Bristol President Keith Blackwell on Tuesday, after having informally interviewed company officials last month about Bristol’s own antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft.
Bristol’s lawsuit, filed Aug. 19 in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport, Conn., alleges that Microsoft illegally withheld information on its Windows NT operating system that prevented Bristol from making its software products compatible with Windows NT.
Microsoft said the government’s latest moves represent a significant expansion of the government’s original antitrust charges. The company said it would need additional time to prepare for trial if the information sought by the Justice Department was made a part of the government’s antitrust case.
The Redmond, Wash.-based company is accused of trying to choke off competition to Windows, the software that runs 90% of the world’s personal computers.
In an 89-page document filed Monday, the Justice Department and 20 states cited a laundry list of alleged anti-competitive practices by Microsoft in dealing with hardware makers Intel and Apple as well as software developers Intuit Inc. and Netscape Communications Corp.
