Government Lawyers Grill Bill Gates for a Second Day

WASHINGTON —  Government lawyers spent a second day Friday questioning Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates in preparation for a trial next month of their antitrust suit against the software giant.

Gates, the world’s richest man with more than an estimated $50 billion in assets, was questioned for nine hours Friday in a conference room at the company’s headquarters near Seattle.

One attorney, speaking on condition of anonymity, said lawyers repeatedly asked Gates questions in different ways to elicit straightforward answers but that Gates was “evasive and non-responsive.”

A Microsoft spokesman, Mark Murray, responded: “The facts don’t support the government’s case, so it’s not surprising that the government doesn’t want to hear the facts.”

It was unclear whether Gates will be questioned by government attorneys again next week.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who will preside over the trial, previously told government lawyers they can interview Gates “as long as it takes.” The government planned to interview 15 Microsoft executives, including Gates, as it prepares for the Sept. 23 trial.

The Justice Department and 20 states allege that Microsoft used its market influence as the dominant producer of operating software for personal computers to stifle competition in the high-tech industry.

Steve Houck of the New York attorney general’s office, representing the 20 states suing Microsoft, questioned Gates for roughly six hours Thursday, then the Justice Department’s David Boies took his turn.