[Am-info] Sun Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Microsoft

[Mitch Stone]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020308/tc_nm/tech_sun_dc_7&
cid=581

Sun Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Microsoft
Fri Mar 8, 2:34 PM ET

SANTA CLARA (Reuters) - Sun Microsystems Inc. on Friday said it filed a 
private antitrust suit against Microsoft Corp. in U.S. District Court in 
San Jose, California claiming that its business was hurt because the 
software giant engaged in unfair business practices.

The suit stems, in part, from Microsoft's decision to ship its Windows XP 
(news - web sites) operating system without any support for Sun's Java 
software programming language.

"Our suit seeks compensation from Microsoft for illegally impeding Sun's 
business and harming the Java platform -- acts that Microsoft was found 
guilty of in federal court in Washington, (D.C.)," said Michael Morris, 
Sun's general counsel, in a conference call with analysts and reporters.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft's spokesman Jim Desler called the 
issues old news.

"It's time to move past these issues, many of which are related to a 
lawsuit the parties settled last year," Desler said.

Microsoft has been found to have violated antitrust law in a landmark case 
brought by the federal government and state attorneys general. It also 
faces private antitrust suits from consumers and a suit filed in January 
by AOL Time Warner .

NOT THE FIRST TIME

In this new suit, Sun called for Microsoft to disclose and license the 
computing protocols and formats related to products such as Internet 
Explorer, which is used by consumers to access the Internet.

Sun, which makes large computers that manage corporate networks, has long 
had a bitter relationship with Microsoft and has sued the company in the 
past.

In 1997, the company filed a case against the software giant, saying 
Microsoft violated its copyright licensing agreement for Java, a "write 
once, run anywhere" computer language that lets software run on a variety 
of operating systems.

Sun Chief Executive Scott McNealy has been known to make fun of Microsoft,
  calling the Windows operating system "a hairball."

Morris said that Sun requested that the court require Microsoft to begin 
immediately including its Java software on Windows XP.

"We expected Sun to sue Microsoft just like AOL did, based on the findings 
of the District court that Microsoft was in fact a monopoly," said Brendan 
Barnicle, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities.

On Nasdaq, shares of Sun jumped $1.33, or 15 percent, to $10.16, while 
Microsoft shares rose $1.38, or about 2 percent, to $64.10.