Sun Microsystems and Microsoft yesterday announced that they have
settled a long-running dispute over Java, the platform-independent
programming language developed by Sun, with Microsoft agreeing to
pay its rival the sum of $20 million for past use of the
technology. Microsoft has also agreed to stop using Sun’s “Java
Compatible” trade mark.
Introduced six years ago, the Java technology is now licensed by
200 companies and used by 2.5 million developers. Sun says of Java,
“it is the fastest growing application platform in history, and now
runs on everything from the smallest cell phones to the largest
enterprise servers. Sun's Java technology has been called a de
facto platform for e-business solutions.”
The dispute arose when Microsoft licensed the technology from
Sun in 1996, promising to deliver only compatible implementations
of the technology. Sun argued that Microsoft then broke its promise
when it began distributing incompatible implementations so that
applications written to those implementations would run only on
Windows.
Sun repeatedly asked Microsoft to stop shipping incompatible
implementations of the Java technology. Microsoft refused. As a
result, Sun terminated the Technology Licensing and Distribution
Agreement.
"Microsoft has proven time and again that it is unwilling to
abide by the common rules of the internet," said Patricia Sueltz,
Sun's executive vice president. "Its behaviour with regard to the
Java technology was just one instance. And when presented with the
choice of compatibility or termination, Microsoft chose
termination."
With the contract terminated, Sun and Microsoft have agreed to
end the current litigation, initiated in October, 1997 before Judge
Ronald M. Whyte in U.S. District Court in San Jose, under the
following general terms:
The Court will enter a permanent injunction barring Microsoft
from using the JAVA COMPATIBLE trademark.
To protect developers and consumers who have already invested in
Microsoft's implementations of the Java technology, Sun has agreed
to grant Microsoft a limited license to continue shipping
essentially "as is" its currently shipping implementations of the
outdated 1.1.4 version of the Java technology. Those products have
already been modified to comply with injunctions secured by Sun in
the litigation.
The license covers only the products that already contain the Java
technology, and lasts only for seven years.
Beyond that, Microsoft has no rights to distribute the Java
technology, or to otherwise use any of Sun's intellectual
property.
