Microsoft Appeals Java Injunction

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January 14, 1999 (12:00 AM EST)

By Lee Pender,

The dispute over Java between Microsoft and Sun Microsystems rose to a new level Thursday when Microsoft filed an appeal to a district court judge's preliminary injunction against the company.

In November, Judge Ronald Whyte of the U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., filed a preliminary injunction against Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft stating Sun would likely win the dispute between the two companies.

The case began in October 1997, when Sun, in Palo Alto, Calif., sued Microsoft for copyright infringement after Microsoft released a version of Java that was not compatible with the version from Java-creator Sun.

Microsoft, however, filed its appeal in a U.S. Appeals Court in San Francisco, claiming Whyte's court misinterpreted the companies' licensing contract in granting the injunction. Microsoft officials also said the court was mistaken in treating the case as a copyright issue rather than a contract dispute.

"Microsoft believes the district court made several errors that should be reversed by the court of appeals," said Tom Burt, associate general counsel at Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft, in a statement. "This lawsuit is about the contract between two companies. We believe the court's preliminary injunction ruling was based on an erroneous analysis of the contract."

Meanwhile, Sun officials said the company's law firm received a copy of the appeal late last night. Sun officials said the company stands by Whyte's injunction and would like to work with Microsoft on bringing its version of Java into compliance with Sun's.

"The ability to maximize compatibility and minimize switching costs is a central value of the Java platform -- millions of developers and users rely on that value," the Sun statement says. "They would be best served if Microsoft would come back into compliance with the Java specifications. We renew our invitation to Microsoft to do so, and renew our offer to assist them in coming into compliance."

Last week, Whyte ordered Microsoft and Sun to schedule a settlement conference in front of a magistrate to resolve their dispute. In part, the judge said a conference would be productive because both parties had received the court's preliminary injunction rulings. No such conference has been scheduled.