Microsoft: AOL played both sides against the middle

In the morning session of the trial's eighth day, the company introduced evidence to prove that AOL (NYSE:AOL) was hardly bullied by Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) but, in fact, played off Microsoft and rival Netscape Communications Corp. (Nasdaq:NSCP) to gain an advantage.

Microsoft lead attorney John Warden introduced documents to show that AOL's gamesmanship continued even after Microsoft had won a deal to make its Internet Explorer the browser of choice for AOL.

In the second day of questioning AOL Senior Vice President David Colburn, Warden attempted to show that an earlier browser agreement reached with Netscape contained exclusive provisions no different from those in Microsoft's separate pact with AOL.

But at the lunch break, the lead lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice, David Boies, claimed the Colburn testimony reinforced the government's antitrust charges against the software giant.