Sun Microsystems Inc has got the first response from Judge Ronald Whyte over its application to have certain sealed documents in its Java copyright and breach of contract case against Microsoft Corp over unsealed, but nothing will happen until a special master – court adviser – is appointed. First off, the San Jose Mercury News and Ziff-Davis have been granted intervener status by the court, following their application. The counsel involved, representing Sun, Microsoft and now San Jose Mercury News and Ziff-Davis, have until August 19 to submit to Judge Whyte an agreed candidate for special master. There was no word yesterday on who that might be, but the lawyers have sent a joint letter to about half a dozen candidates, says Sun. The court will then approve and appoint the special master, the cost of which will be borne jointly by Sun and Microsoft. The judge has ruled that Sun and Microsoft have until August 27 to ‘undesignate’ documents that were previously considered confidential that were specified in Sun’s preliminary injunction filed May 12 relating to copyright and unfair competition and then present them to the special master. He or she will then evaluate them and present his or her findings to the judge. There is no time-scale on that part. And from now on, anything filed with the court must be sent to the lawyers for the interveners in an edited – ‘redacted’ – form, who will decide if they want to petition to have it unsealed. The main lawyer receiving the redacted documents on behalf of the four interveners is Edward David of the Genesis law Group in San Jose.
