Judge Clarifies Microsoft Injunction
Filed at 8:16 p.m. EST
By Shawn Willett for Computer Reseller News, CMPnet
A judge's clarification of a preliminary injunction against Microsoft's use of Java technology seems to be a partial victory for Microsoft, but leaves plenty of room for Sun Microsystems to press its case.
Judge Whyte of the U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., ruled the original restraining order does not apply to Java technology that is not part of the Java Virtual Machine, which Microsoft licensed from Sun.
"The court clarified that its preliminary injunction does not restrict Microsoft's distribution of any Java technology that makes no use of and is not derived from any of Sun's copyrighted material," said the order, which was made public Friday. "The arguments and evidence submitted in connection with Sun's previously filed motions, without more, are insufficient to support an injunction."
In other words, Microsoft is free to sell Java tools that it built itself without help from Sun's Java code, something that Sun, based in Palo Alto, Calif., had wanted to prevent. The ruling left unresolved what exactly constitutes an independently derived product, leaving room for Sun to take additional steps.
"The court expresses no opinion at this time on Sun's claim that distribution of an independently developed Java compiler would violate the TLDA. Finally, nothing in this order is intended to suggest whether any product Microsoft may develop and attempt to distribute will constitute an independently developed product," said the order.
Both sides declared the ruling a victory. |
