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Hearings Begin on Java Injunctions |
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HowardGilbert writes "Starting Tuesday, three or four days of hearings are scheduled in Baltimore Federal District court on Sun's request for a preliminary injunction against Microsoft. Sun wants to force Microsoft to stop distributing the Microsoft version of Java and begin distributing the Sun version with every copy of Windows. A CNET news article is here. Copies of Sun's complaint and motions are available here. The case is notable as yet another flagrant attempt (this time by Sun) to use copyright law to surpress someone else's right to express ideas. Sun made a nearly identical motion it its previous case against Microsoft, but failed when the judge ruled that the dispute was a contract dispute over license terms rather than copyright infringement.
In Jan 2001 Microsoft and Sun reached a settlement of their previous Java case. The full text of the agreement is available. Generally, Microsoft agreed to get completely out of the business of supporting or distributing Java, but in exchange for a large payment Sun agreed to allow Microsoft to continue to support current users of its version of Java in currently shipping products. Microsoft continued to distribute its version of Java in exactly the same form as it had used for the previous five years, as an update to its Windows operating system packaged in a file called "msjavx86.exe". This file had been changed every time Microsoft released an update to their Java, but under the new agreement Microsoft was limited to fixing only serious bugs. The file could be downloaded from the Microsoft Web site, and was included in updates to either Windows or IE. It could be redistributed by anyone who needed it to run an application that they developed using either the free Microsoft Java SDK or Visual J++ product.
Sun now asserts that Microsoft's traditional distribution package is an unlicensed separate distribution of Java. The settlement only allows Microsoft to distribute its Java runtime with existing and followon products (Windows, IE, Java SDK, Visual J++). Curiously enough, Microsoft can grant you or I the right to distribute its Java runtime to run our own programs, but Sun claims that Microsoft can grant to everyone else a right that it does not have for itself.
Sun has one view of how Java should work. Microsoft has a different view and has expressed its opinion in code. Nobody questions that the Microsoft code contains Sun's copyrighted material, but Sun granted Microsoft a license to distribute that material. Programmers now have the right to chose either, or both since they coexist quite nicely on the same machine.
Instead of competing on the merits, Sun continues to seek preliminary injunctions to surpress the right of Microsoft to express its alternate opinion. They claim that their license allowing Microsoft to include its Java "in successor versions of the products" (Windows, IE) is materially violated if Java is included as an optional update to the system rather than being preinstalled.
As to the other Sun request, most programmers would probably applaud the idea of preinstalling the Sun Java runtime in every copy of Windows. It isn't clear if the court can legally force Microsoft and computer makers to include it, but it would be nice if we could assume everyone already had Sun Java support on their machine. It would be outrageous if the court denied everyone the ability to also have the Microsoft Java runtime."
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