Microsoft claims victory in Java lawsuit

NEWS Microsoft has claimed a partial victory in its Java battle with Sun after an appeals court suspended the November ruling ordering the software giant to comply with Sun Microsystems' version of the development platform. Last November, Judge Whyte ordered Microsoft to alter its products to comply with Sun's 100 per cent pure Java programme, claiming that Microsoft was infringing Sun's copyright. He also ordered Microsoft to stop using unauthorised compiler extensions and keyword and compiler directives as the default mode in Visual J++ 6.0. But in a unanimous vote on Monday, three appeal court judges decided that Judge Whyte's ruling did not sufficiently explain why Microsoft's actions constituted a copyright infringement. The preliminary injunction was therefore unwarranted. The appeals court has sent the order back to the district court for further explanation. Sun's attorney, Rusty Day, claimed he was confident Judge Whyte would justify his decision to the appeals court. According to US reports, he said this had already been done in part in a summary judgement released in May in which the Judge held that the software giant had violated Sun's copyright. Microsoft does not foresee the company making any substantial product changes as a result of the ruling. Sun and Microsoft were not prepared to comment on the case.