Microsoft has failed in its efforts to delay the start of its antitrust trial with Bristol Technologies Inc, the company said Monday. Microsoft had filed a motion with the US District Court in Bridgeport, Connecticut to postpone the trial, but Judge Janet Hall denied the motion. The parties appear to have essentially complied with the Pretrial order and the case should be ready for trial in early June. Jury selection begins on May 20, and the trial itself is expected to start on June 2, making it likely to be the first of Microsoft’s antitrust cases to receive a ruling.
In a separate decision, the court decided that sharing of discovery material between Bristol, Caldera Inc and the Government would be beneficial. It is the view of the court that it is the view of this court that reciprocal sharing of information between Bristol and a willing plaintiff in either of the other two cases (US v Microsoft Corp and Caldera Inc v Microsoft Corp) will materially assist in the preparation of the instant case for trial starting June 1, 1999” said Judge Hall.
Bristol, based in Danbury, Connecticut, filed its case against Microsoft on August 18 1999, and alleges that Microsoft injured Bristol and the rest of the software industry through predatory manipulation of the access to the Windows programming interfaces. Bristol said it needed access to Windows source code in order to continue its cross-platform Windows and Unix tools business. It claims anti-competitive manipulation of the access to the Windows programming interfaces, that constitutes antitrust violations of the Sherman Act, as well as violations of Connecticut law. Bristol says that if it wins its case, the effect could be to open up the market in just the way that Microsoft promised when it launched the WISE program in 1994.”
Separately, no definite date has been set for the resumption of Microsoft’s Washington antitrust case against the Department of Justice and 19 States. The case was expected to resume on May 24th. Now reports suggest that, due to scheduling conflicts, the case won’t be resumed until June 1 at the earliest. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that more face-to-face meetings between the two sides are likely to take place before the trial is resumed in an attempt to find a settlement out of court.
