Microsoft company officials claimed they gained an
edge in court Thursday arguing against a lower court’s injunction that it
should have to bundle Sun Microsystems’ Java software
into its Windows operating system.
“We were pleased to have the opportunity to present to the court, why we
believe this injunction is not warranted, does not serve the public interest
and unnecessarily intervenes in the marketplace,” said Jim Desler, Microsoft
spokesman.
Microsoft’s lawyers asked a federal appeals court to lift the lower court’s
ruling saying the terms of the injunction were “unprecedented and
extraordinary.” Microsoft lawyer David Tulchin said Sun had not shown how
not including Java in Windows would create “imminent irreparable harm.”
Sun attorney Lloyd R. Day said he disagrees with Microsoft’s
characterization that the injunction is unprecedented, he agreed that it “is
an extraordinary case because of Microsoft’s anticompetitive conduct, and
extraordinary cases require extraordinary remedies.”
Both lawyers presented their arguments in front of the 4th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia on Microsoft’s appeal of a
preliminary injunction issued in December by a federal district judge in
Baltimore.
Sun claims that Microsoft engaged in “anticompetitive acts against the Java
platform and Sun with the purpose and effect of maintaining its monopoly
over Intel-compatible PC operating systems,” according to a motion filed
previously with the appeals court.
The three-judge panel that heard today’s arguments gave no indication when
it might rule on Microsoft’s appeal.
A Microsoft company official in the courtroom Thursday said that the judges
asked several questions of the lawyers concerning “market tipping.” Sun
argued that Microsoft is “tipping” the market by not including the latest
version of Java into its operating system and other software. The source
said “the judges voiced skepticism” with Sun’s “tipping” argument.