Appeals Court Halts Microsoft Java Order

After unveiling plans Monday to comply with a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz, Microsoft has been granted a stay of the decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Microsoft had filed an emergency appeal in late January calling the order "extreme and unprecedented." The 4th Circuit Court has put the injunction on hold until it can hold a hearing.

The injunction came as part of a $1 billion lawsuit brought by Microsoft rival Sun Microsystems, which claims Redmond used its Windows monopoly to promote .NET over Java. In his ruling, Motz ordered Microsoft to ship Windows with Sun's Java technology within 120 days.

In response to the decision, Microsoft said in a statement: "We are pleased the Fourth Circuit has stayed the court order and agreed to hear our appeal on an expedited basis. It's appropriate that this matter be decided by the circuit court before we would be required to move forward with implementing the injunction."

Sun responded with the follow statement: "We regret the 4th Circuit Court's decision. The preliminary injunctions granted by the district court will benefit consumers and the Java community's developers, enterprises and system vendors."