The Department of Justice decided not to cross-examine Microsoft Corp witness Steve Colburn yesterday morning, satisfied that the AOL executive’s testimony had done little harm to the government case. DoJ lead attorney David Boies said that he had nothing to add to Microsoft’s cross-examination. The court recessed for the day, the next rebuttal witness will take the stand today.
Transcripts of private bench sessions that took place on Monday show that Judge Jackson felt that Colburn had little new information to offer. He described the AOL’s man’s testimony as not very illuminating, saying that Colburn knew nothing of the documents that were put before him. In court yesterday, Colburn repeatedly said that he was unfamiliar with draft presentations and emails that were presented to him. In the private sessions Judge Jackson asked why Microsoft attorney John Warden didn’t question AOL chief executive, Steve Case, since Colburn had said that he was not involved with strategic affairs.
Microsoft had hoped to cast doubt on Colburn’s credibility in his previous capacity as a government witness. The software company also wanted to show that the merger deal between America Online Inc, Netscape Communications Corp and Sun Microsystems Inc changed the face of the computing market through the emergence of new internet devices, and because AOL could shift the balance of browser market share towards Netscape. However, the Microsoft effort seems to have done nothing for its case, and succeeded only in irritating Judge Jackson again.
