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Sun, Microsoft spar over Java in hearing
Microsoft attorney asks Judge Ronald Whyte: 'What's the scope of Sun's intellectual property?'
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The judge granted Sun a preliminary injunction last November, ordering Microsoft to make changes to several products to include a version of Java that would pass Sun's compatibility test suite. That order is under appeal and a decision is pending. The tentative rulings debated today do not affect the preliminary injunction.
Both sides have filed other motions for summary judgment beyond the motions that the judge heard arguments on today. Those remaining motions are pending.
In an interview with InfoWorld at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco last week, a top Sun executive said he was confident the judge would rule in Sun's favor on the copyright and independently developed Java issues, particularly because of developers' dependence on Java specifications when building implementations.
If the judge were to rule against Sun, "that's not a disaster for us, for the following reason -- it is very difficult, close to if not, in fact, impossible, to build an implementation of the Java platform without at least looking at the documentation or its specifications," said Alan Baratz, president of software products and platforms at Sun.
"Well, that's Sun intellectual property. And the judge has been very clear about that, that if Microsoft uses the specs or uses the documentation, it is not an independent work," Baratz continued. "Or if Microsoft purchases something from a third party that had used the documentation or the specs, it's not an independent work."
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