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AOL hands over evidence
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October 19, 1998: 7:55 a.m. ET
Internet firm said to hand over key anti-Microsoft documents to DOJ
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Responding to government subpoenas, America Online Inc. reportedly has provided prosecutors with new evidence that could support the antitrust charges leveled against Microsoft Corp.
According to lawyers and industry executives involved in the case, AOL handed over memos detailing Microsoft's efforts to overpower Netscape Communications Corp. in the market for Internet browsing software, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
The memos come as opening arguments in the landmark antitrust case is scheduled to begin in Washington. The documents were cited in a list of trial exhibits filed last week with the U.S. District Court.
One memo offered an account of a June 21, 1995 meeting between Netscape and Microsoft in which a Netscape engineer was told, if Netscape didn't go along, "Microsoft would crush them." The details were relayed by the engineer to an executive of the Dulles, Va.-based online services provider.
However, lawyers for Microsoft plan to illustrate through e-mail messages that Netscape wasn't acting as if it had been threatened. A spokesman of the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant called the government's allegations "hogwash."
Microsoft shares (MSFT) eased 3/8 to 105-1/16 on Friday while America Online stock (AOL) dropped 3-11/16 to 102.
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