By Rachel Chalmers
Sun Microsystems Inc wants US District Court Judge Ronald Whyte to reinstate a preliminary injunction theta temporarily prevented Microsoft Corp from shipping versions of Java that were incompatible with Sun’s own test suites. Sun won the injunction in November 1998, but in August 1999 the ruling was overturned on appeal. To convince Judge Whyte to reinstate the prohibition, Sun’s lawyers presented three arguments. According to them, the Technology Licensing and Distribution Agreement (TLDA) between Sun and Microsoft clearly prohibits Microsoft from shipping incompatible versions of Java.
Besides, Sun argued that Microsoft’s behavior does not need to be shown to be a willful and intentional breach of contract in order for an injunction to be granted – adding that even if that did need to be shown, Microsoft’s behavior was in fact both willful and intentional. Finally, the court has been asked to consider whether Microsoft’s anti-competitive behavior is likely to be exhibited again. Sun insisted that it is, arguing that since the injunction was lifted, Microsoft has engaged in false advertising, has failed to upgrade earlier versions of its Java Virtual Machines to make them compatible with the test suite, and has induced its licensees to distribute incompatible products. Now it’s up to Judge Whyte to decide whether Microsoft can or should be stopped.
