Microsoft Calls Government Breakup Plan ‘Defective’.

Microsoft submitted its final document in the landmark antitrust case today, calling the U.S. Justice Department’s plan to break up the software giant “defective,” “vague” and “ambiguous.” Microsoft also offered testimony from several executives of other companies who share its belief that a breakup would be injurious to the economy. Microsoft’s lawyers said Jeffrey Katzenberg of DreamWorks and Michael Capellas of Compaq, among others, are willing to testify to the negative effects that a Microsoft breakup would have on their companies and industries. The company’s offer was little more than a symbolic move aimed at showing the court supporting testimony that it believes the judge should have heard. Since U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson has already closed hearings on the case, no more witnesses will be called. Microsoft’s filing follows up on the “offer of proof,” it filed hurriedly a week ago, as Jackson was about to end the final hearing in the case. That filing outlined proposed testimony from company co-founder Bill Gates and other witnesses. The government, in its revised filing two days later, called it an eleventh-hour ploy. Today’s “offer of proof,” included a summary of testimony from seven potential witnesses. The company’s filing today also included revisions to the government’s breakup proposal. Microsoft criticized the government for using vague definitions. “There must be a definition of the term ‘Internet browser,’” the company wrote. “At the moment there is no indication of what the government is referring to.”