In Victory for Sun, Microsoft Blocked From Shipping Java
In a surprising defeat for Microsoft Corp. that could have a bearing on its federal antitrust case, Sun Microsystems Inc. won a preliminary injunction Tuesday blocking Microsoft from shipping Java software code in its products unless it conforms with Sun’s standards for the technology.
U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte in San Jose issued the order after concluding that Sun was likely to prevail in its lawsuit, which accuses Microsoft of unfair business practices and violating a licensing agreement between the two high-tech giants.
Under the court order, Microsoft has 90 days to either make such products as Windows 98 and Internet Explorer 4.0 compatible with Sun’s version of its vaunted Java programming language or remove Java from them.
Microsoft is not required to recall software that has already been shipped, and the judge asked Sun to post a $15-million bond to cover damages to Microsoft in the event that Microsoft wins the case, which is set to begin in January.
According to documents and e-mail revealed in the course of the hearings, Microsoft regarded Java’s promise of allowing programmers to write software that will run on any type of computer as a threat to the dominance of its Windows operating system and sought to undermine it by developing “polluted” versions of Java that would work only on Windows.
“This makes difficult if not impossible the Microsoft strategy of creating a Microsoft-only version of Java,” said Sam Miller, an antitrust attorney who led a Justice Department case against Microsoft.
Miller says the 30-page ruling, which found that Microsoft had probably engaged in unfair business practices, would support similar claims made by the department and 20 states in a broader antitrust case against Microsoft.
Miller said the department is likely to bring Tuesday’s ruling to the attention of the judge presiding over the antitrust case as further evidence that Microsoft has used its monopoly power to undermine threats to its Windows franchise.
Microsoft executives said they remain optimistic that the company can win at trial.
“We are disappointed in the court’s ruling, and while we review the court’s order and assess our legal options, we will comply with the court order,” said Microsoft spokesman Jim Cullinan.
Paul Maritz, Microsoft vice president for platforms and applications, said Microsoft is considering several options. “The option of not supporting Java is one open to us,” he said.
The ruling could provide a boost to Java, a technology that has lost some support because of concerns that too many incompatible versions would make its promise of operating on different platforms unworkable. Sun said it will soon announce a new version of Java for Windows that is a significant improvement over previous versions.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sun, a leading maker of computer servers and workstations as well as Java software, sued Microsoft for breach of contract in October 1997, arguing that Microsoft broke its 1996 licensing agreement with Sun by introducing modifications to its Java code that make it, in some cases, work only on Windows.
Microsoft insists that its version of Java passes the tests required under its licensing agreement with Sun and that the contract allows it to change Java to make it operate more efficiently on Windows.
Whyte found that while Microsoft could indeed legally modify Java technology to work better on Windows, the altered versions still had to satisfy Sun’s compatibility requirements.
Sun shares climbed $3.88 to close at $66.69, and Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft gained $3.06 to $111.88. The decision was announced after the close of trading.
