Software giant Microsoft and Sun Microsystems last night settled a bitter, 3-year-old lawsuit, with Microsoft agreeing to pay its rival $20 million for limited use of its Java programming technology.
The suit, filed by Sun in October 1997, alleged Microsoft had violated terms of its licensing agreement for Java by improperly modifying the technology so it would only work with its Windows computer operating system.
Sun, which makes powerful server computers and software that dish up Web pages, is a perennial foe of Microsoft that has helped the US government in its anti-trust case against the software titan. Microsoft is appealing a federal judge's ruling last year to split the company in two.
The settlement of the suit, which had not gone to trial, lets Microsoft use Java in existing products such as its Internet Explorer browser, and those now in a testing phase, for the next seven years.
Java is a "write-once, run anywhere" computer language that lets programs run on a variety of operating systems and devices. Microsoft critics charged that the company altered Java to try to maintain the dominance of Windows.
A previous five-year license and distribution agreement for Java struck in March 1996 was terminated, two months early. A Microsoft countersuit was also dropped.
Reuters