At Microsoft's 1998 antitrust trial, Apple senior executive Avie Tevanian testified that in 1997 Microsoft pressured Apple to abandon its QuickTime multimedia software and cede the playback market. According to evidence in the case, at an April 1997 meeting an Apple engineer asked whether Microsoft wanted Apple to 'knife the baby' — meaning QuickTime — and a Microsoft executive replied, 'Yes, we're talking about knifing the baby.' Tevanian, who acknowledged he had not personally attended that meeting, said that when Apple refused, Microsoft worked to sabotage QuickTime's compatibility with Windows. Microsoft disputed Tevanian's characterization and called the discussions ordinary business negotiations, but the vivid phrase became one of the trial's most-quoted moments.