Avid Technology Inc is tight-lipped about allegations that surfaced last week in the Microsoft antitrust trial. In his direct testimony, Apple Computer Corp’s Avadis Tevanian Jr, claimed that Microsoft Corp – which has a 9.4% stake in Avid – had leaned on the Tewksbury, Massachusetts-based provider of digital audio and video tools to rip QuickTime out of its Cinema video editing tool. He went on to claim that the efforts had obviously succeeded as Avid partnered Microsoft for the introduction of its AAF multimedia authoring file format. In his cross examination of Tevanian, defense counsel Theodore Edelman claimed that, in fact, Apple had pressured Avid not to support Microsoft’s AAF file format. A spokesperson for Avid refused to comment on the accusations, pointing out that the company had strategic agreements with both companies. However, he did confirm that both the Windows and Macintosh versions of Cinema are based around a QuickTime engine.
