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Microsoft readies defense
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May 2, 2000: 12:35 a.m. ET
Company launches efforts to fight government proposed breakup
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Microsoft plans to ask the judge overseeing the landmark antitrust trial for more time to prepare its defense, for permission to see hundreds of pages of government records and to call witnesses to argue against a recommended breakup.
Microsoft spokesman Jim Cullinan said he expects a long discovery process to find out how the Justice Department came up with its "draconian and overbearing" proposal.
On Friday, the federal government and 17 of the 19 states suing Microsoft in the antitrust case submitted their remedy proposal to Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, recommending that Microsoft be split into two companies. In April, Jackson found the Redmond, Wash.-based company guilty of unfair business practices and abusing its power as a monopoly.
 The New York Times on Tuesday reported the software leader's plan of action in an interview with the company's general counsel William Neukom.
"Their extreme request for relief invites questions on how they came to the observations and conclusions in their declarations," Neukom told the Times.
Microsoft's defense efforts in this phase of the case could last "well into the fall," Neukom told the newspaper. Government officials reportedly called Microsoft's actions stalling tactics, employed to drag the case into the next presidential administration. Some trial watchers have noted that the Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, has in the past made sympathetic comments about Microsoft's position.
The deadline for Microsoft to file its official response to the government's remedy proposal is May 10. Neukom told the Times that although the company is anxious to speed up proceedings, Microsoft will need more time to prepare its case.
In spite of Microsoft's efforts, the judge is not obligated to grant its delay request, the paper said, and Jackson has said he wants to end the remedy phase as soon as possible. When the trial began two years ago, Microsoft made a similar request to Judge Jackson for a delay, which was rejected.
However, Dan Wall, an attorney with law firm Latham & Watkins, said he thought the judge was likely to grant Microsoft more time to respond to the vast proposal, which included fresh statements from economists and technical experts.
"The package that the Justice Department filed the other day was formidable," Wall told Reuters.
"They couldn't do it justice if they wanted to. This has just come out of nowhere, with brand new experts, experts the government never had before, and Microsoft has to be given the chance to respond to this fully," Wall said.
Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates) fell 3-9/16 to 69-7/8 Tuesday on Nasdaq. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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