Microsoft To Pay Sun $20 Million To Settle Java Lawsuit

Microsoft Corp. will pay rival Sun
Microsystems Inc. $20 million as part of a settlement
to Sun's three-year-old lawsuit over Java technology, the companies
announced today.

The settlement grants Microsoft limited use of Java technology
for seven years, bars the software giant from displaying the Java
compatible trademark and cancels a 1996 licensing agreement.
Microsoft said in a statement that it has not used the trademark
since 1998.

Sun sued Microsoft in October 1997, alleging the company violated
terms of the licensing agreement by tweaking Java technology to make
it compatible only with its Windows operating system. The suit, which
did not go to trial, spawned bitterness between two software titans
that were already intense rivals.

Sun was outspoken in its support of breaking up Microsoft, and
was among industry leaders canvassed by the government in its
antitrust case against Microsoft.

"Microsoft has proven time and again that it is unwilling to abide by the
common rules of the Internet," Sun software group vice president Patricia
Sueltz said in a news release. "Its behavior with regard to the Java
technology
was just one instance. And when presented with the choice of compatibility
or termination, Microsoft chose termination."

Microsoft, on the other hand, sees the settlement as a "successful
conclusion" to the litigation without impacting customers. "We looked
for a reasonable solution here with a company that is using the legal
system to compete against Microsoft," Microsoft spokesman Jim
Cullinan told Newsbytes tonight. "They blame us for all their failures."

Java is computer language that allows programs to run on a variety of
systems and devices.

Sun said Microsoft borrowed from Java technology to create its own
J++ development tool - or "Virtual Machine" - in versions of
Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. Sun maintained that the
case was built around copyright infringement, but last May a judge
ruled that the case was a contractual dispute.

Sun Microsystems is on the
Web at http://www.sun.com.

Microsoft is at http://www.microsoft.com.