Microsoft wins round in tussle with rival Sun

Software multinational Microsoft has won a battle in its legal war with rival Sun Microsystems after a federal judge ruled their fight is a contract dispute rather than a more serious copyright violation, as Sun had claimed.

Judge Ronald Whyte, of the US District Court in San Jose, California, issued two decisions late on Monday that dismissed Sun's allegations that Microsoft violated copyrights on Sun's Java programming technology.

Microsoft spokesman Mr Mark Murray said the decisions mostly reaffirmed earlier rulings by Judge Whyte on the issue and did not amount to a dramatic development in the case.

"We are pleased that this ruling supports Microsoft's position that this is a contract dispute between two large and sophisticated companies, and not a copyright case," Mr Murray said.

Sun said that while the rulings knocked back its argument for copyright violations, they did not affect its claims of trademark infringement, breach of contract and unfair competition.

Sun, which filed the case in 1997, says Microsoft broke its licensing agreement for Java, a "write once, run anywhere" computer language that lets software run on several operating systems.

Sun, a maker of powerful server computers and software, says Microsoft, fearing a threat to its Windows operating system, tried to sabotage Java's appeal as a crossover technology by creating a version that would only run on Windows, which is used on over 80 per cent of PCs. The rulings followed a minor victory for Microsoft in April when Judge Whyte rejected Sun's interpretation of its contract with Microsoft concerning updated versions of Java. Both sides have claimed victory in the case. Such skirmishes are laying the ground rules for a full-blown trial. A trial date for the case has not been set.

The company is also due tomorrow to present its proposed remedy in the antitrust case brought against it by the US justice department, which is seeking to split the company in two for breaking antitrust law. The justice department's Mr Joel Klein said yesterday Microsoft's anti-competitive actions were not invented for the new economy, but instead relied on the "time-tested tricks" of monopolists.