5 years ago: Gates testifies in Bristol case

08/06/99: Bill Gates denies Microsoft's alleged anticompetitive practices against a small software firm, Bristol Technology, during a videotaped testimony played in court. He describes Microsoft's dealings with Bristol as "more than fair".

The Bristol-Microsoft trial is in its second week.

Bristol claims Microsoft attempted to crush competition from the upstart by raising the price of its Windows source code and making it difficult for Bristol to continue to develop its Windows/Unix interface product.

Microsoft counters that other companies, including Bristol competitor Mainsoft, accepted the same terms offered to Bristol in a licensing agreement.

08/06/2004: Microsoft has logged its fair share of court time in recent years. Along with the Bristol case, a drawn-out trial by the US Department of Justice kept the company's lawyers hopping.

Antitrust woes still plague Gates & Co in Europe. In March, the European Commission slapped the company with a record €497m fine and ordered it to offer a version of Windows without a bundled media player. Microsoft vowed to appeal as soon as the ruling came down and just today officially filed that appeal.

Heading south to Brazil, the software giant has been cleared of any anticompetitive behaviour after a six-year investigation by the Brazilian government, which itself is the biggest public sector user of Linux in South America.