The federal judge hearing the Microsoft Corp. antitrust case said Wednesday that some potentially particularly damaging testimony against the company is hearsay and refused to consider it in deciding whether nine states can impose harsh penalties on the software giant.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said some of the written testimony from RealNetworks Vice President David Richards could not be admitted because Richards did not have direct knowledge.
Richards said Microsoft had insisted that America Online drop RealNetworks’ media software in favor of Microsoft’s. He cited an e-mail last year between AOL Chief Executive Barry Schuler and RealNetworks boss Rob Glaser. “They want to kill you guys so badly, it is ugly,” Schuler told Glaser.
Despite protests, the judge disallowed the testimony.
