Sun Microsystems Suffers Setback in Microsoft Battle
By DAVID P. HAMILTON
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
A federal judge handed Sun Microsystems Inc. a setback in its high-stakes legal battle with Microsoft Corp. over the Java programming language.
According to representatives from Sun and Microsoft, U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Whyte in San Jose, Calif., ruled that a preliminary injunction he issued against Microsoft in November doesn't prohibit the software giant from developing its own independent version of Sun's Java programming language.
The ruling clarifies an ambiguity in the preliminary injunction, in which he ordered Microsoft to rewrite part of its Windows 98 operating system and other software products to make them consistent with Sun's version of Java. At the time, it was unclear whether that injunction also prohibited Microsoft from developing an independent version of Java that wouldn't necessarily be consistent with Sun's software.
The fight over Java mirrors a much larger struggle between Sun and Microsoft over the future of computing. Sun, which billed Java as a universal language that could run programs on any type of computer, hoped to use it to weaken Microsoft's Windows operating-system dominance.
Microsoft, in turn, licensed Java from Sun, then introduced extensions to the language that allegedly tied it more tightly to Windows, damaging its universality. Judge Whyte's original injunction ordered Microsoft to adhere to Sun's version of Java.
Microsoft hailed the decision as a victory, albeit a minor one. "What it means is that as long as we don't use Sun's code, we can develop any Java product we want," said Tom Burt, associate general counsel for Microsoft. Mr. Burt acknowledged, however, that the issue will come up again, since Sun has asked the court to permanently forbid Microsoft from developing its own version of Java.
A hearing on that motion will be held March 12. Microsoft has also appealed Judge Whyte's preliminary injunction, so the issue will be discussed at the appellate level as well.
"The bottom line is that there are three shoes to drop on this issue, and this is only one of them," said Sun spokeswoman Lisa Poulson. |
