Sun Microsystems faces "irreparable harm" if an injunction ordering Microsoft to include Sun"s Java Runtime Environment with its products is overturned, Sun said in a legal brief filed Friday.
The brief is the latest action in a private antitrust lawsuit filed by Sun against Microsoft in March 2002 regarding the emergence of Microsoft"s.Net platform as a competitor to the Java language and JRE.
Sun alleges that Microsoft has tried to kill developer interest in Java by distributing its own version that is incompatible with the version of Java controlled by Sun, thus creating uncertainty in the developer community and driving developers to use Microsoft"s competing.Net platform.
Sun asked for, and on December 23, 2002, was granted by U.S. District Court Judge Frederick Motz, an injunction that ordered Microsoft to offer the JRE with all versions of Windows XP (news - web sites) and with all Web browsers that include.Net functionality. Microsoft appealed the decision, and the injunction was halted in January by an appeals court pending a review of the case.
Ongoing Appeals.