Gates may testify at sanctions hearing

Microsoft Chairman and co-founder Bill Gates and other top executives at the company may testify in upcoming court hearings in an effort to convince a federal judge to reject any stricter sanctions against the software giant, the company said.

Microsoft named Gates, along with Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and 10 other company officials as possible witnesses for the hearings on sanctions, which are scheduled to start March 11.

Gates and the other officials will make the case before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly that the judge should not impose any sanctions beyond those that the company agreed to in November in a settlement deal with the Justice Department and nine of the state attorneys general in the case.

In particular, they will be trying to fend off more severe remedies that have been proposed by nine other states, which have refused to sign on to the settlement and are continuing to press the case in court.Gates will tell the judge that the stricter sanctions would hobble collaboration in the computer industry and thus be bad for the business and consumers, Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler said on Sunday.

Gates did not testify in person during the trial, and some legal analysts have said that decision damaged Microsoft's defense. Instead, the Justice Department showed the trial judge parts of Gates videotaped deposition, in which he appeared evasive.