MS lawyers blitz Sun
In building its case for its countersuit against Sun on Java, Microsoft's lawyers have hit Sun with requests for 40 documents and calls for depositions from eight senior Sun executives, according to court documents.
Microsoft (MSFT) and Sun (SUNW) are due to appear before U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte in San Jose on Feb. 27.
Whyte will decide whether to grant Sun a preliminary injunction preventing Microsoft from using Sun's Java logo on Internet Explorer 4.0 and the Microsoft Software Developers Kit for Java 2.0. Sun maintains that these products have failed Sun's Java compatibility tests.
According to documents filed with the court, Microsoft is seeking information on a wide range of topics, including all of Sun's negotiations on Java license agreements, how Microsoft's agreement differed from other licensees', how other licensees had fared on Sun's Java compatibility tests, changes made to the test suites, and so on.
Microsoft is also seeking to show that Sun allowed other Java licensees to use the logo without being compliant and that Sun altered its own products to enhance their performance on Java benchmarks. Although Microsoft did not mention Netscape Communications Corp. by name, Netscape has removed Sun's Java logo from its Web site and subsequently cut back on Java development.
Sun objected to Microsoft's request to depose Michael Clary, director of Sun's Aspen, Colo., Smallworks research lab; and Bill Joy, a Sun co-founder who helped guide the development of Java. But Sun did not object to Microsoft's request to depose six other executives -- including Alan Baratz, president of JavaSoft -- who filed statements in support of Sun's motion for a preliminary injunction.
Sun also objected to many of Microsoft's requests for documents on the grounds that they were "irrelevant or overly broad," and requested documents of its own.
Sun agreed to provide testimony on compatibility test results and confusion caused by Microsoft's use of its logo.
Sun tried to move the hearing date up to Dec. 19 after Sun and Microsoft failed to agree on the scope of discovery, according to the court docket. Microsoft then moved to delay the court date until June because of the discovery it wanted to do. Judge Whyte denied both requests.
Sun had no comment. A Microsoft spokeswoman maintained that Sun tried to change the hearing date to avoid discovery.