Microsoft renews bid for exclusion
Microsoft says recent Justice Department allegations are "tangential" and renews a request for the evidence to be excluded.
The allegations, first introduced in a court brief the government filed two weeks ago, span a broad range of products, including Sun Microsystems' Java and Internet broadcast software made by Apple Computer and RealNetworks. Antitrust prosecutors claim the new allegations help establish a "pattern" of anticompetitive acts by Microsoft designed to maintain its current operating system monopoly and build new ones.
In May, the Justice Department and 20 states sued Microsoft, alleging a broad course of conduct that violates antitrust laws. While the touching on a number of areas--including Sun's Java--the suit primarily focused on Microsoft's alleged attempts to freeze Netscape Communications out of the Web browser market. Chief among Microsoft's alleged misdeeds was the decision to tie its Internet Explorer browser to its Windows operating system.
A federal appeals court ruling, however, cast serious doubt on the viability of the government's browser claims. That decision, issued in June by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, held that integrated products generally pass antitrust muster if the combination provides a plausible benefit to consumers.
In the event that Jackson decides not to exclude the new evidence, Microsoft has asked that the current format of the trial, which has been limited to 12 witnesses per side, be modified.
"If plaintiffs are permitted to transform this action into a plenary monopolization case--involving supposedly anticompetitive acts not specifically alleged in the complaints--then the schedule for trial and the procedures to be observed should be adjusted to reflect this profound change in the nature of the case," Microsoft's brief said.
Last week, Jackson delayed the start of the trial, then set for September 23, by three weeks. Microsoft asked that Jackson consider its motion at a conference scheduled for September 17. Government representatives were not immediately available for comment.