BOSTON --- An appeals court Tuesday denied Microsoft's bid to get secret tapes about competitor Netscape from two business-school professors who interviewed top executives at the browser company.
Microsoft was trying to get copies of the tapes and notes made by Harvard University's David Yoffie and Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Michael Cusumano while researching their new book Competing on Internet Time.
But in a unanimous 24-page decision the US 1st Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that "compelling the disclosure of such research materials would infringe the free flow of information to the public, thus denigrating a fundamental First Amendment value."
Jonathan Albano, who represented Yoffie and Cusumano said the decision means "academics should have the same First Amendment rights as reporters."
In the book, Netscape executives, including company president James Barksdale, make embarrassing remarks about management and planning mistakes. Microsoft maintained the tapes, as well as the book, contradict the Justice Department's argument that Netscape's problems stem mainly from Microsoft's abuse of its monopoly power.
Copyright© 1998 Reuters Limited.
