Judge Bars Media From Microsoft Case Depositions

Microsoft Corp. won a court order Tuesday barring reporters when Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and others are questioned about proposals for tougher antitrust remedies by nine states opposing a proposed settlement.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that, because the Justice Department had reached a tentative settlement of its case against Microsoft and was no longer a plaintiff, a 1913 law allowing news media at the depositions no longer applies.

The law mandates public depositions only in Sherman Antitrust Act cases brought by the Justice Department, she said.

Microsoft asked the judge to lift a 1998 court order won by news organizations that allowed reporters and the public to attend questioning of witnesses before the 78-day trial of the government’s lawsuit that ended in June 1999.

“The court can think of no rational basis for the application” of the Publicity in Taking Evidence Act “to the depositions to be taken by the non-settling states,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in an opinion made public Tuesday.

Ballmer is likely to be questioned by the dissenting states because the company listed him as a possible witness in court hearings set to begin March 11 on the proposed restrictions on Microsoft’s business practices.

Lee Levine, a lawyer representing the news organizations, said he hasn’t seen the order and declined to say whether there will be an appeal. The nine states didn’t oppose Microsoft’s request to hold the questioning in private.

The depositions were set to begin Tuesday as Microsoft and the states began preparing for the hearings. Lawyers in the case conduct the depositions outside the presence of the judge. Witnesses are questioned under oath in preparation for their appearance in court before the judge.

Nine other states have joined the Justice Department in supporting the settlement, requiring that Microsoft give computer makers more freedom to promote programs that compete with products offered by the No. 1 software company.

Microsoft shares fell $1.50 to $62.32 on Nasdaq.