– Microsoft Corp returned to re-cross examine the government’s final witness, professor Franklin Fisher, late yesterday pushing the professor into his sixth day of testimony. Microsoft said it returned because the summary redirect by the government’s lead attorney David Boies over the past three days had covered ground not addressed by the initial cross examination. Nevertheless, Fisher is expected to step down today, finally resting the prosecution’s case, which has stretched over three months.
– With the government mistakenly certain it would rest its case yesterday afternoon, assistant attorney general and head of the US government’s antitrust division, Joel Klein spoke to reporters during the lunch recess and stayed in court throughout the afternoon. Klein proclaimed that the government and the 19 states had made a compelling case” and there was now an extraordinary mountain of evidence showing this company did not compete on merits. It used predation, exclusion and coercion to defeat any possible threat to its operating system monopoly.” He added that the evidence presented which included executive documents and emails had showed a strong pattern of anti-competitive behavior.
– Klein was joined by Stephen Houcks, chief of the antitrust department in New York. He said that the government’s case had shown that Microsoft’s culture meant that it must Win at any price. That the normal rules of business do not apply to it. He added that Microsoft, in its defense would now have to demonstrate that its emails [used in evidence by the government] did not mean what they said. And that’s a very very difficult task, he said. Houcks went on to dismiss Microsoft’s first witness, economics expert Richard Schmalensee, Dean of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, as possibly the only economist or person in the country who will not believe Microsoft has a monopoly
– Bill Neukom, Microsoft’s lead attorney, dismissed the government’s case as feeble. He said that the government was acting at the bidding of Microsoft’s rivals who had failed to beat Microsoft in the marketplace. Neukom said the company would explain the real meaning and importance of the Microsoft internal emails used throughout the trial to support the government’s case. Email snippets will be disproved by putting them into context he said.
– Microsoft also said it would file to have the case dismissed after the government finally rests its case, which is expected later today. But even the Microsoft counsel pointed out that the motion is unlikely to prevent the company from having to put its 12 witnesses on the stand.
– Professor Richard Schmalensee, who is set to take the stand today as Microsoft’s first witness, was in court yesterday afternoon. His presence was welcomed by his fellow MIT economics professor, Franklin Fisher who is the final government witness. While refuting Schmalensee’s written testimony, Fisher said it was good to see that Schmalensee was there to hear his criticisms – adding it was a shame he had not also attended in the morning to hear more of them.
– The government says it will bring its case to rest today by releasing another segment of the controversial video taped testimony from Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. Although the tape will not be played it court, it will be submitted as evidence and released to the TV networks.
