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Sun Micro to pursue billion-dollar Microsoft suit
Friday November 1, 8:07 pm ET

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/021101/microsoft_sun_lawsuit_2.html

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 1 (Reuters) - One of Microsoft Corp.'s (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) most tenacious rivals, Sun Microsystems Inc.(NasdaqNM:SUNW - News) vowed on Friday to keep fighting the monopolist with a billion-dollar lawsuit and urged state attorneys general to appeal their antitrust case despite a legal setback.

A federal judge on Friday endorsed an antitrust settlement between Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Justice, dismissing the protests and proposals of nine states that sought stricter terms against the software maker.

Santa Clara, California-based Sun, whose Java software challenges Microsoft's plans to expand onto the Internet from the personal computer realm it rules, said in a statement that the court-approved deal would not work.

"The weak steps that Microsoft has taken to comply with the requirements already show that the settlement will be ineffective in curbing Microsoft's monopolistic and anti-competitive practices and how difficult it will be to enforce," Sun Special Counsel Michael Morris said.

He said the nine states that had challenged the settlement had plenty of ammunition to appeal their case.

"We will also continue to pursue our civil case and to cooperate with the European Commission's case against Microsoft to ensure that the company does not continue to use its monopoly position to become the gatekeeper of the Internet," Morris said.

Sun filed its lawsuit seeking more than $1 billion in damages in March, claiming its business was damaged by Microsoft's abusive monopoly, which impeded the use of Sun's Java software platform.

Microsoft also faces private antitrust suits from consumers and from the world's largest Internet media company, AOL Time Warner(NYSE:AOL - News).