Washington, Feb 04: A federal appeals court on Monday agreed to temporarily shelve a lower court order that would force Microsoft to start incorporating Sun Microsystems's Java programming language in its Windows operating system.
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond agreed to stay the antitrust order until it rules on Microsoft's appeal of the decision.


The appeals court gave no explanation for the decision. It also granted a request by both sides to hear the appeal on an expedited basis.
At issue is a preliminary injunction issued by US District Judge J Frederick Motz in Baltimore on December 23 designed to remedy Microsoft's past antitrust violations and level the playing field between Java and Microsoft's .NET Web service software.

Microsoft has asked the appeals court to overturn Motz's order, which would require Microsoft to begin putting Sun's Java into Windows within 120 days after the order is entered.
In the meantime, the company sought the stay in an emergency motion filed on January 22, calling Motz's must-carry order "extreme and unprecedented."
Bureau Report