San Jose, Calif. - A federal judge here yesterday ordered Microsoft Corp. to temporarily remove the Java-compatible logo from two of its products until a decision is reached in a lawsuit filed by Sun Microsystems, Inc.
The preliminary injunction gave Sun executives something to brag about at this week's JavaOne conference in San Francisco.
Alan Baratz, president of Sun's JavaSoft division, called the ruling a victory for Java programmers and end users.
Sun filed the lawsuit last October, alleging that Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4.0 browser and Software Developer Kit for Java were not compatible with Sun's definition of Java. Sun said failure to pass compatibility tests violated the Java licensing and trademark agreements that Microsoft signed in March 1996.
How the lawsuit turns out could determine the future of Java's "write once, run anywhere" promise. Sun and Java purists accuse Microsoft of trying to split Java to protect the dominance of its Windows operating platforms in desktop PCs.
Microsoft has argued that it is merely trying to improve the performance of Java on Windows. It has denied violating the licensing agreements and has countersued Sun.
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