V. are filled with the names of celebrities who have hired him to testify in copyright, contract and libel cases in the past three decades: Kelsey Grammer, Joan Rivers, Blake Edwards, the Beatles, Larry Flynt.

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Sun's landmark October 1997 lawsuit charged Microsoft with copyright infringement and breach of contract for failing to maintain compatibility with Sun's version of Java.

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"Microsoft's behavior has to be looked at through the scope of the contract, not through a copyright infringement view, " said Cullinan.

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No contract shall ever be for the life of copyright.

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But under the original contract used in the case decided yesterday, the copyright holder, Las Vegas Review-Journal parent Stephens Media, signed over only the right to sue while retaining an exclusive license to the content itself.

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