WASHINGTON - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch today invited Microsoft Corp. chief Bill Gates to testify at a 3 March hearing, but a company spokesman said Gates had a previous commitment.
Hatch asked Gates and two other top computer executives to testify to the Judiciary Committee about competition and the Internet.
"Bill has a previous long-standing commitment, but we look forward to participating in the hearing, either with Bill if we can change his schedule, or with another very, very senior Microsoft executive," said Mark Murray, a Microsoft spokesman.
Hatch has been looking carefully at Microsoft, which has been charged by the Justice Department with violating a 1995 consent decree aimed at increasing competition in the software industry.
The Utah Republican said in a statement that he was inviting Gates, Scott McNealy, president and CEO of Sun Microsystems, and Jim Barksdale, president and CEO of Netscape Communications. McNealy and Barksdale have been bitter rivals of Gates. Sun is in litigation against Gates and the Justice Department has cited Barksdale's company in its action against Microsoft.
"Mr. Barksdale would welcome the opportunity to appear with Mr. Gates at this hearing to address these very important issues that impact the future of computing," said Chris Holton, a spokeswoman for Netscape. She had no comment on whether Barksdale would appear in the absence of Gates.
A spokeswoman for Sun was not immediately available for comment.
Hatch said in his statement that the hearing would "provide an important step in our consideration of how antitrust policy could best serve consumers and the long-term health of the software industry and the Internet generally."
He said the CEOs could testify about the Internet and the promise of new software for the computer industry.
"I believe it will be very instructive to the committee to hear first-hand from the industry players who are themselves driving these developments," Hatch said. "This hearing will present an opportunity for industry to educate the committee about competitive dynamics in the marketplace."
