Microsoft Corp. developed policies stressing the systematic destruction of internal e-mails and other documents crucial to lawsuits it has faced in recent years, a California software company alleges.
Burst.com, in court papers unsealed this week, also accuses Microsoft of destroying e-mails crucial to Burst's lawsuit against the software giant even after the trial judge ordered it to retain the documents. Burst had previously claimed that Microsoft deleted e-mails it needed for evidence. But the unsealed 50-page motion, filed Oct. 29, provides new details, Burst says, of "institutional policies" by Microsoft "to make sure that incriminating documents disappeared."
Burst is suing Microsoft for alleged anticompetitive behavior, saying Microsoft misappropriated the intellectual property behind its multimedia software after breaking off talks with Burst on a joint project.
Burst, according to the motion, wants the jury in the case to be told that Microsoft failed to retain important documents, so jurors should infer that the company did so because those documents were damaging. "Critical e-mails have been destroyed and will never be recovered. We've tried; they're gone forever," said Burst's lead attorney, Spencer Hosie. "This is the only remedy that's left open to us."
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