Lawyers for Microsoft Corp, who spent the majority of the day Monday shaking their heads in resigned disagreement as lead government attorney David Boies took shot after shot at the company’s business practices, will be allowed make their opening statement in the historic antitrust trial today. The software giant, led by attorney John Warden, will spend the morning refuting evidence presented by the government as misleading and out of context. Microsoft VP and chief counsel William Neukom said Monday that the government’s opening statement was built on a lot of rhetoric and snippets, and contained the same old tired allegations. He said the information presented by Boies was taken dangerously out of context. A Microsoft spokesperson later echoed that sentiment insisting that the government-cited documents read very differently in their entirety. He insisted that the great detail and hard-hitting allegations that characterized the government’s opening statement didn’t take the company by surprise. The company intends to prove that it is a vigorous but fair competitor, according to Neukom. Meanwhile, Joel Klein, Justice’s antitrust chief, asserted the company’s guilt and said that the evidence presented in the weeks ahead will show illegal deeds and words, adding The truth will serve us well.
