BEAUMONT, Texas — A judge Thursday put off for another week a decision to exclude documents Compaq Computer Corp. and others consider proprietary from a lawsuit that accuses the No. 2 personal computer maker of selling machines with a data corruption defect.
State District Judge Gary Sanderson originally was to have ruled Thursday, but delayed the decision until May 9.
Sanderson presided over a two-day hearing on the issue last week in which Compaq and third-party interveners Microsoft Corp., Lucent Technologies Inc. and National Semiconductor Corp. asked him to seal certain documents.
The interveners said they were concerned some of their trade secrets may be included in the five boxes of documents Compaq wants sealed.
Larry Leibrock, a University of Texas information technology professor who testified on behalf of the plaintiffs last week, said sealing the documents would “deprive people who use these computer systems of a known failure to record data properly.”
Compaq denies a defect exists.
