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Gates will testify on Monday in antitrust case

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CIOL Bureau
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By Peter Kaplan



WASHINGTON: Microsoft Corporation Chairman Bill Gates will appear in federal court on Monday to testify against the antitrust sanctions sought by nine states still pursuing the landmark case against the software giant.



The decision to put Gates on the witness stand marks a reversal from Microsoft's original trial, when he did not appear in person but was seen in unflattering portions of a videotaped pre-trial interview played by government lawyers.



Gates "will speak to the potential harm to consumers and the industry posed by the non-settling states' remedy proposals," Microsoft said in a statement on Friday. More specifically, Gates will tell the judge that the stricter sanctions would hobble collaboration in the computer industry, according to a company spokesman.



Gates, the world's richest man and Microsoft's cofounder, will be the seventh witness called by the company to testify before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly The nine states have refused to sign on to a settlement of the four-year-old case reached between Microsoft and the Justice Department in November.



A federal appeals court in June upheld trial court findings that Microsoft illegally maintained its Windows monopoly in personal computer operating systems. Microsoft said Gates also will talk about "the evolution of the personal computer industry and the critical role Microsoft, computer manufacturers and independent software vendors have played in making computing accessible to consumers and an engine for economic growth."



Andrew Gavil, a professor of antitrust law at Howard University, said Gates "has got to go before the judge and say, 'I'm not this big, bad, terrible guy and (the states) are crazy."



Gavil said there is a risk that Gates will make a poor impression on the stand, as he did in his videotaped appearance. But it's a risk worth taking.



"I'm not sure the down side is nearly as drastic as the upside," Gavil said. "If he performs well, it could really be a home run for them."



"They know there's a danger that if they don't bring him, they will leave unanswered questions on the table for the judge," Gavil said.



In February, Microsoft named Gates, along with Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and 11 other company officials as possible witnesses for the hearings on the states' demands.



But until Friday it was unclear when -- or even whether -- Gates would actually appear in court.



Some legal analysts have said Gates failure to appear in person during the trial damaged Microsoft's defense. Instead, the Justice Department showed a taped deposition in which he appeared uncooperative and quibbled with government lawyers over the meaning of common words.



During opening arguments in the case five weeks ago, an attorney for the states told Kollar-Kotelly that Gates was being similarly evasive this time around.



When asked at a pre-hearing interview whether the settlement would allow Microsoft to use the same tactics that landed it in court, Gates replied, "There's not enough data in this summary to allow me to answer that."



The proposed settlement of the case would, among other things, give computer makers more freedom to feature rival software by hiding some Windows add-on features.



But the nine states say stronger measures are necessary to prevent Microsoft from abusing its Windows monopoly in the future, particularly against recent computer technologies like handheld devices and interactive television.



The states want the judge to order Microsoft to produce a version of Windows with removable features that can be customized by computer makers and rival software firms.



(C) Reuters Ltd.

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