Sun VP: Without Injunction, Harm to Sun Could Be 'Very Significant'

On the first day of a preliminary injunction hearing taking place before the actual trial commences in Northern California, Sun's legal team asked the U.S. District Court here to force Microsoft to include in Windows XP a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) compatible with the latest edition of Java.

The Java Community Process, which includes Apple, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and other companies, oversees the development of future iterations of Java.

Moreover, Sun said Tuesday that Microsoft agreed to stop distributing its JVM in the settlement of an earlier lawsuit filed by Sun.

Yet Richard Green, Sun's vice president of developer tools and the first witness called here this week, said he downloaded Microsoft's JVM only yesterday, and that there were numerous sites on the Web where anyone could get the software.

Sun's legal team cited this as one example of copyright infringement, which is the basis of a second complaint being discussed this week in court before Judge J. Frederick Motz.

But using slides from Green's presentation at JavaOne in March of this year, Microsoft attorneys sought to show that Sun's market position is not as tenuous as Sun lawyer Rusty Day described in his opening statement.

"Sun is not exactly a 98-pound weakling," said David Talchin, speaking for Microsoft while brandishing a copy of Sun's 2001 10-K document.

Sun's sales in 2000, Talchin said, were $12.5 billion, "and that was a down year," he added.

In his cross-examination of Green, Talchin then produced slides created for Green's keynote at JavaOne.

"The Java application server market is up 39 percent over 2001," Talchin said, reading from a list of bullet points on one slide. "There are 3 million Java developers.

"There's nothing here to indicate that Java would be at some huge disadvantage," Talchin observed, asking Green why he did not discuss Microsoft's supposed encroachment on Java's turf to the thousands of developers gathered at the trade show.

On the witness stand, Green replied dryly, "I typically reserve such inspiring words for other forums."

Earlier, Day had asked Green to explain why the court's approval of the preliminary injunction would aid companies other than Sun.

"You have to really look at how Java is managed and defined," Green said. "When Sun [first developed Java in 1995, it really held sway [over the stewardship of Java. In 1999, we created the JCP, and Sun relinquished its controlling position by and large."

"What effect would denial of the preliminary injunction have on Sun?" Day asked.

"The harm to Sun would be very significant," Green said. "I don't see a mode going forward in which it could be [repaired."

Because of the potential range of .Net applications, "developers are going to flock to .Net" at Java's expense, Green said.

.Net is widely viewed as Microsoft's competitive response to Java.

The hearing continues here Wednesday.