DOJ and Microsoft File Their Lists of Trial Witnesses

(September 7, 1998)  The Department of Justice and Microsoft both filed their witness lists with the U.S. District Court on Friday, September 4.  The lists, which are limited to twelve by a pretrial order of Judge Jackson, contained few surprises.  Neither side plans to call Bill Gates to testify.  The trial might start on September 23.

The Department of Justice list of witnesses contains top officers of companies that compete with Microsoft, including Jim Barksdale, CEO of Netscape, a de facto client of the DOJ in this case.  The list also includes David Colburn (AOL), William Harris (Intuit), and John Soyring (IBM).

The DOJ list also includes several professors of economics and computer science, including David Farber (Univ. Penn., telecommunications), Edward Felten (Princeton, computer science), Franklin Fisher (MIT, economics), and David Sibley (Univ. Texas, economics).

The list also includes Scott Vesey of Boeing!

The DOJ has repeatedly portrayed Gates in court pleadings and public statements as having been at the center of Microsoft's violations of antitrust law.  However, the DOJ did not list Bill Gates as one of its a witnesses. 

Microsoft's list is made up primarily of the Microsoft executives who have lead the divisions which the DOJ has alleged to have violated antitrust law.  "These are our senior executives who were directly involved in each of the issues the government has raised. Through their testimony, we will show that the government's allegations are groundless, and that Microsoft's actions were completely appropriate and good for consumers," said William Neukom, Microsoft SVP for law and corporate affairs.

"Our witnesses will refute the government's case and prove that our inclusion of Internet technologies in Windows was designed to provide new tools and innovations for consumers and software developers," continued Neukom.  "We have a very strong case. The Appeals Court decision in favor of Microsoft confirmed that our integration of browser technologies into Windows 95 was good for consumers and completely legal."

The Microsoft list also includes two expert witnesses.

John Rose of Compaq is also on the list.  One of the DOJ's claims is that Microsoft has entered into illegal exclusionary contracts with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), such as Compaq.