Microsoft ruling reversed Appeals court rejects need to include Java in Windows

Microsoft Corp. doesn't have to put rival Sun Microsystems Inc.'sJava programming language into the Windows computer operating system,a U.S. appeals court ruled, reversing a lower court order.

The Richmond, Va., court overturned a pretrial injunction issuedby U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz, who said he was erasing thecompetitive advantage Microsoft gained from illegally protecting itsWindows monopoly.

The 3-0 ruling boosts Microsoft in the emerging market for Webservices, which link hand-held devices, personal computers andservers to let consumers do such things as buy airline tickets withmobile phones. Java and Microsoft's .Net framework are the two mostpopular ways for programmers to develop Web services.

"Not having to put Java in Windows certainly removes a problemMicrosoft would have had" in making sure .Net trumped Java, saidForrester Research Inc. analyst Rob Enderle. "It removes what mighthave been an artificial barrier to their success."

Shares of Redmond, Wa.-based Microsoft, the world's largestsoftware company, rose 49 cents to $25.75 at 4:01 p.m. New York timein trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Sun, based in Santa Clara, fell 10 cents to $4.79.

The case now goes back to Motz's court in Baltimore, where Sun maystill be able to present evidence to justify the need to include Javain Windows.

Sun Vice President Lee Patch said the decision to lift theinjunction was "based on a narrow, technical rationale."

"The premise of our case is in great condition and has gone up tothe Fourth Circuit and come back intact," he said.

Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler called the ruling "a positivestep."

The appeals court left in place another Motz order, prohibitingMicrosoft from distributing its own version of Java from an InternetWeb site or in updates to Windows it sends to customers.

Motz ruled that under a 2001 settlement of a copyright-infringement suit by Sun, Microsoft was given the right to distributethe Microsoft Java version only as a component of other products suchas Windows or Internet Explorer, not as stand-alone software.

Sun argued that such stand-alone distribution spread confusionamong software developers and users, making it harder for Sun to gainwider acceptance of Java.

"This is an important victory for the Java community," said Patch,the Sun official. "It helps to ensure that only current, compatibleJava technology will be distributed on PCs."

Microsoft's Desler said the company had already stoppeddistributing its own version of Java over the Internet. "Obviously,we were forced to do that by Sun's claims, and today's ruling doesn'tchange that," he said.

Sun has been working on other ways to get its Java software onPCs. The company said two weeks ago that Hewlett-Packard Co. and DellComputer Corp. will ship personal computers loaded with software forrunning Java programs on Windows.

The appeals court rejected Motz's conclusion that the order tocarry Java was needed to prevent the Web services market from"tipping" in Microsoft's favor.

Sun's own expert testified "that even he could not be sure whethertipping was more likely than not," Judge Paul V. Niemeyer wrote forthe court.

The panel also said Microsoft had never been found liable fortrying to extend its Windows monopoly into another market.

Sun filed its lawsuit after an appeals court in Washington upheldthe U.S. government's antitrust case against Microsoft. That rulinglet the company and the government to negotiate a settlement that woncourt approval last year.