Taking new aim at Microsoft in the legal tit-for-tat it started weeks ago, Sun Microsystems filed a fresh lawsuit today to bar the software behemoth from using the Java Compatible logo to promote Internet Explorer.
"We take very seriously our stewardship of this remarkable technology, which includes keeping the promise of cross-platform compatibility that our logo stands for," Michael H. Morris, Sun's general counsel, said in a press release. Sun claims that Microsoft has improperly modified Java and that the Microsoftian version doesn't meet Sun's compatibility standards - and therefore shouldn't carry the logo.
Sun filed its suit in US District Court in San Jose, in response to Microsoft's response to a suit filed by Sun on 7 October. Sun's original complaint was that Microsoft is breaking its Java licensing agreement and derailing Java's cross-platform compatibility by tweaking its version into a Microsoft-only technology.
Arguing that "Microsoft must be stopped from using the Java Compatible logo to deceive the marketplace," Morris said that having the Java logo on the Microsoft-modified products is "like buying a can of Coca-Cola and finding ginger ale inside."
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Computer theft, the old-fashioned way: A Microsoft plant in Scotland was robbed last week, and the gun-toting thieves got away with some 200,000 certificates of authenticity and 100,000 CD-ROMS. Microsoft told Dow Jones News Service that three plant workers were bound and locked in an office during the 10 November incident in East Kilbride, Scotland. The certificates of authenticity, if used on counterfeit Win 95 computers, could be worth some US$16 million, the company said, and it is warning distributors to be on the lookout.
18.Nov.97
