The law gets its due Patents for Internet businesses and techologies continued to flow forth, pleasing some but opening the way for a surge in lawsuits. Will legal protection for budding business practices help or hinder the new economy? The Justice Department deposed Bill Gates, topping headlines regarding Microsoft's alleged strongarm tactics with co-hegemon Intel and claims by Caldera executives that Microsoft failed to hand over all of the source code required by the judge presiding over an unrelated suit. California maintained its claim to legislative leadership of the Net, as Gov. Pete Wilson signed the California Internet Tax Freedom Act, which bars local governments from levying new or discriminatory taxes on Internet companies and transactions for three years.