Redmond giant asks judge to move antitrust suit from California to Washington Microsoft Corp. has asked a judge to move an antitrust suit filed against it by rival RealNetworks Inc. to Washington state from California, the company said Thursday.Seattle-based RealNetworks sued Microsoft in December alleging that the Redmond, Washington, software giant illegally used its monopoly powers to control the digital media market. The suit, filed in federal court in San Jose, California, seeks damages that could exceed $1 billion, RealNetworks said last year.“It makes no sense for a California jury to resolve a dispute between two Washington-based companies. To that end, we have recently filed a motion requesting that the case be transferred to the state of Washington for trial,” Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler said in an e-mail response to questions. “We find it very puzzling that RealNetworks wants a legal issue, between two Seattle area companies, to be decided in California by Californians. Both companies’ employees live here, our executives live here, and we are both headquartered here. It’s appropriate that a trial would be here as well,” Desler said.Microsoft’s move to requests a change of venue is not surprising, said RealNetworks spokesman Greg Chiemingo. It is a procedural matter and RealNetworks still wants a trial to be held in San Jose.“We believe that any jury will benefit from the greatest number of in-person witnesses that can testify and it is clear that Silicon Valley has the largest number of potential witnesses because of its importance in the digital media industry,” Chiemingo said. San Jose is seen by many as the capital of Silicon Valley, the area where many high technology companies are based, including Microsoft rivals Sun Microsystems Inc. and Oracle Corp.A hearing on Microsoft’s request to move the case to Washington state has been scheduled for March 1 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose division, Microsoft said. Software Development