JAVA TRADEMARK WHIPS UP WEB TROUBLE.

Byline: Evan Ramstad Associated Press 

Using ``java'' on line can put you in a hot cup of joe.

Sun Microsystems Inc., protecting a trademark it obtained for its Java computer programming language, has warned more than a dozen companies to stop using the word java in their Internet addresses.

Also known as domain names, addresses such as javacup.com lead a computer user to specific pages on the World Wide Web.

Some of the companies Sun has warned sell coffee, the thing many people think of when they hear the word Java. Others, such as retailer Javanco of Nashville, Tenn., just happen to have the word Java as part of their name.

And ironically, some of the companies use Sun's Java language to create their Web sites.

``Sun just doesn't want anybody to dabble in domains that use that word,'' Ray Taft, president of Web Planet, a San Jose Web consulting firm that created javacup.com, said Friday.

Sun's own Web site and its warning letters contain a list of Java-related words it has trademarked. They include Javasoft, Javastation, Ultrajava, Picojava and Javaworld.

But the extent to which Sun can apply those trademarks in cyberspace is unclear. If it can prevent coffee shops from using Java in their Internet addresses, can it also stop hotels on the Indonesian island of Java from doing so?

``If the island of Java were to establish a domain name that had Java in it, no we would not go after that,'' said Anne Gundelfinger, associate general counsel for Sun. ``But if somebody is using Java in their domain name or otherwise in a way that's likely to cause confusion with our Java mark, we will police that.''

Though she declined to talk about specific warnings Sun has made, she said the company would consider whether those Web sites have the potential to be confused with Sun's trademarks as matters proceed forward.

Jon Batcheller, a Portland, Ore., software programmer who has a Web site at www.javac.com, received a letter from Sun in mid-May telling him to stop using the address. Instead, he turned his Web site into an electronic gathering ground for others who have also been warned by Sun.

``I wasn't going to take it without doing something,'' Batcheller said. ``To me, it's like Microsoft telling people not to use `windows.' Windows is a software program, but most people think of windows as something to look through.''

The Nashville store Javanco has a Web address, www.javanco.com, where people may order electronics products. The store has been open since 1972 and trademarked its name in 1982, owner D. Javan Keith told Network World.

``This is the kind of bother you don't need,'' he told the trade journal in today's edition. Keith did not return a call for further comment Friday.

Many large companies aggressively monitor usage of their trademarks and warn people who appear to infringe on them. Often, they reach agreements with companies that pose no competitive threat. But the laborious legal efforts are necessary to build a record for the time a serious trademark threat comes up.