Clipboard.getAvailableDataFlavors: Comparison method violates contract

FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
java version "1.7.0_04"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_04-b22)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.0-b21, mixed mode)

ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]

EXTRA RELEVANT SYSTEM CONFIGURATION :
MS Office Home and Business 2010
MS Outlook Version 14.0.6112.5000 32 bit

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
After coping text from MS Outlook email, calling Clipboard.getAvailableDataFlavors() sometimes causes an IllegalArgumentException indicating a incorrect comparator used to sort the DataFlavors.
The below program sometimes prints the flavors correctly, sometimes it stops with the exception.

I've included the mime types when it succeeds in the expected results field. It looks like it has been reported without due to request 7108946 (but the actual bug not public I guess, since I can't find it)

REGRESSION. Last worked in version 6u31

STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
-Copy some text from MS Outlook (HTML e-mail but with just text)
-run the Java program below

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -

Flavors (56):application/x-java-text-encoding; class="[B"text/html; class=java.i
o.Reader; charset=Unicodetext/html; class=java.lang.String; charset=Unicodetext/
html; class=java.nio.CharBuffer; charset=Unicodetext/html; class="[C"; charset=U
nicodetext/html; class=java.io.InputStream; charset=UTF-16text/html; class=java.
nio.ByteBuffer; charset=UTF-16text/html; class="[B"; charset=UTF-16text/html; cl
ass=java.io.InputStream; charset=UTF-8text/html; class=java.nio.ByteBuffer; char
set=UTF-8text/html; class="[B"; charset=UTF-8text/html; class=java.io.InputStrea
m; charset=UTF-16BEtext/html; class=java.nio.ByteBuffer; charset=UTF-16BEtext/ht
ml; class="[B"; charset=UTF-16BEtext/html; class=java.io.InputStream; charset=UT
F-16LEtext/html; class=java.nio.ByteBuffer; charset=UTF-16LEtext/html; class="[B
"; charset=UTF-16LEtext/html; class=java.io.InputStream; charset=ISO-8859-1text/
html; class=java.nio.ByteBuffer; charset=ISO-8859-1text/html; class="[B"; charse
t=ISO-8859-1text/html; class=java.io.InputStream; charset=windows-1252text/html;
 class=java.nio.ByteBuffer; charset=windows-1252text/html; class="[B"; charset=w
indows-1252text/html; class=java.io.InputStream; charset=US-ASCIItext/html; clas
s=java.nio.ByteBuffer; charset=US-ASCIItext/html; class="[B"; charset=US-ASCIIte
xt/rtf; class=java.io.InputStreamtext/rtf; class=java.nio.ByteBuffertext/rtf; cl
ass="[B"application/x-java-serialized-object; class=java.lang.Stringtext/plain;
class=java.io.Reader; charset=Unicodetext/plain; class=java.lang.String; charset
=Unicodetext/plain; class=java.nio.CharBuffer; charset=Unicodetext/plain; class=
"[C"; charset=Unicodetext/plain; class=java.io.InputStream; charset=unicodetext/
plain; class=java.nio.ByteBuffer; charset=UTF-16text/plain; class="[B"; charset=
UTF-16text/plain; class=java.io.InputStream; charset=UTF-8text/plain; class=java
.nio.ByteBuffer; charset=UTF-8text/plain; class="[B"; charset=UTF-8text/plain; c
lass=java.io.InputStream; charset=UTF-16BEtext/plain; class=java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 charset=UTF-16BEtext/plain; class="[B"; charset=UTF-16BEtext/plain; class=java.
io.InputStream; charset=UTF-16LEtext/plain; class=java.nio.ByteBuffer; charset=U
TF-16LEtext/plain; class="[B"; charset=UTF-16LEtext/plain; class=java.io.InputSt
ream; charset=ISO-8859-1text/plain; class=java.nio.ByteBuffer; charset=ISO-8859-
1text/plain; class="[B"; charset=ISO-8859-1text/plain; class=java.io.InputStream
; charset=windows-1252text/plain; class=java.nio.ByteBuffer; charset=windows-125
2text/plain; class="[B"; charset=windows-1252text/plain; class=java.io.InputStre
am; charset=US-ASCIItext/plain; class=java.nio.ByteBuffer; charset=US-ASCIIimage
/x-java-image; class=java.awt.Imagetext/plain; class="[B"; charset=US-ASCII
ACTUAL -
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Comparison method
 violates its general contract!
        at java.util.TimSort.mergeLo(Unknown Source)
        at java.util.TimSort.mergeAt(Unknown Source)
        at java.util.TimSort.mergeCollapse(Unknown Source)
        at java.util.TimSort.sort(Unknown Source)
        at java.util.TimSort.sort(Unknown Source)
        at java.util.Arrays.sort(Unknown Source)
        at sun.awt.datatransfer.DataTransferer.setToSortedDataFlavorArray(Unknow
n Source)
        at sun.awt.datatransfer.DataTransferer.getFlavorsForFormatsAsArray(Unkno
wn Source)
        at sun.awt.datatransfer.SunClipboard.getAvailableDataFlavors(Unknown Sou
rce)
        at TestDataFlavorComparator.main(TestDataFlavorComparator.java:18)

REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced often.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
import java.awt.Toolkit;
import java.awt.datatransfer.DataFlavor;


public class TestGetAvailableDataFlavors {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        DataFlavor[] flavors = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getSystemClipboard().getAvailableDataFlavors();
        System.out.print("Flavors (" + flavors.length + "):");
        for(DataFlavor flavor : flavors) {
            System.out.print(flavor.getMimeType());
        }
        System.out.println();
    }
}

---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
Use the -Djava.util.Arrays.useLegacyMergeSort=true command line option to disable the Java 7 sort