Microsoft, in federal court filings late on Monday, gave its first hint of the depth of information it has disclosed in connection with the Justice Department"s lawsuit against Oracle.
In its U.S. District Court of Northern California filings, Microsoft seeks to gain additional protection for "highly sensitive" business documents and information that it submitted to the Department of Justice and to outside attorneys for Oracle. The software giant, which reportedly assured the Justice Department it would not enter the business applications market in the near future, has submitted more than 20,000 pages of documents and other information to the parties. But the company is seeking to prevent Oracle"s in-house attorneys from reviewing the most highly confidential material of the information it has provided. It also wants to control access for outside experts and others to confidential material.
To do this, Microsoft has asked the court to put more restrictions on a protective order. The order as it stands allows Oracle"s outside counsel and two of its in-house attorneys, and their staffs, to have access to all documents in the case. "Microsoft is seeking this additional protection for only five percent of the total Microsoft documents being produced," the software company stated in its court filing. "The remaining documents--over 19,000 pages--have been produced, and Microsoft has no objection to those documents, much of which is confidential, being accessed by the two designated Oracle in-house counsel."