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Appeals Court Overturns Ruling on Java Software in Microsoft Windows Systems

Posted on: Thursday, 26 June 2003, 06:00 CDT

Jun. 27--A federal appeals court Thursday overturned a decision that would have forced Microsoft to carry Sun Microsystems' Java software in every copy of its Windows PC operating system and Internet Web browser.

The court, however, upheld an injunction prohibiting Microsoft from shipping its own version of Java.

The 3-0 ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., represents a setback for Sun Microsystems in its long-running legal battle with Microsoft over the Java programming language. The ruling essentially preserves the status quo, with Microsoft distributing Windows without Java and Sun negotiating directly with computer makers to ensure that Java is installed in their machines.

Microsoft and Sun are competing to attract software developers to their different platforms. Sun wants programmers to use Java for developing applications and services for the Web, while Microsoft is trying to woo them to its version, called "Dot-net."

Programs written in Java run on many kinds of computers, including Windows. Sun has charged that Microsoft harmed its business by creating versions of Java that worked with its Windows software, but not with Sun's core Java platform.

Sun Microsystems executives said the company would continue to fight to require Microsoft to carry Java through its private antitrust suit against Microsoft, filed last year. In 2001, the companies settled a 1997 lawsuit over Microsoft's use of Java. Microsoft agreed to pay Sun $20 million and signed licenses for Java distribution.

Lee Patch, Sun's vice president for legal affairs, said the company was "disappointed" the court rejected the must-carry requirement, but "pleased" that the court upheld the ruling restricting Microsoft from distributing its own of versions of Java software.

"This decision confirms that Microsoft violated our prior settlement agreement, and that it did so in a way that continued to fragment the Java platform on PCs," Patch said.

Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler said Microsoft was pleased with the ruling.

"This is another step in a long legal process and we consider it to be a positive step," he said, adding that the company has already been phasing out its version of Java, called Microsoft Java Virtual Machine.

"Microsoft has demonstrated repeatedly this past year its commitment to move beyond our conflicts, to work collaboratively with the rest of the industry and to focus on the future."

Sun and Microsoft are competing in an emerging "middleware" market -- software that acts as a platform to use the Internet for most computing tasks. U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz in Baltimore ruled in December that an injunction was needed to offset the competitive advantage Microsoft gained through its Windows monopoly.

In overturning that ruling, appeals court Judge Paul Niemeyer wrote "It's not inevitable that the new emerging middleware market will tip in favor of Microsoft." The judges found no "imminent threat that the market for general purpose, Internet-enabled distributed computing platforms will tip in favor of Microsoft."

Preliminary injunctions are difficult to justify, said Robert Lande, a law professor and antitrust expert at the University of Baltimore.

"It has got to be a true emergency," he said. "That is a really tough hurdle to overcome."

But the ruling doesn't foreshadow the ultimate outcome of the case, he said. "Now Sun gets to put in every piece of evidence" to the court before a decision is made.

The decision won't have much impact on the competitive position of the rivals, said Bill Whyman, an analyst with the Precursor Group, an independent research firm.

"It's too little too late," Whyman said. Microsoft has already managed to put its own platform into the marketplace for more than a year.

"Dot-net is out there and Sun can't stop it at this point," he said. Instead, "Sun is being pragmatic, finding alternative ways to distribute Java that don't rely on Microsoft," such as striking deals with computer makers and mobile phone companies.

Recently, Sun announced that hardware makers like Dell and Hewlett-Packard have agreed to carry Java pre-installed on their machines.

But the company will continue its fight to force Microsoft to carry the latest compatible version of Java in Windows, said Rich Green, vice president of developer platforms at Sun. More than 90 percent of the world's personal computers run on Microsoft's Windows operating system.

"It is ultimately the most efficient way to deliver Java," Green said.

Mercury News Staff Writer Heather Fleming Phillips contributed to this report.

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(c) 2003, San Jose Mercury News, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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