Use a custom renderer that does not paint the focus border. e.g.

TableCellRenderer nofocusRenderer = new DefaultTableCellRenderer()
{
    public Component getTableCellRendererComponent(JTable table,
                                               Object value,
                                               boolean isSelected,
                                               boolean hasFocus,
                                               int row,
                                               int column)

    {
        return super.getTableCellRendererComponent(table,
                        value,
                        isSelected,
                        false,
                        row,
                        column);
    }
}

If it is only for display purpose (i.e only one column to be shown with the
"selected" background/foreground), you could do it using a custom renderer.
(very similar to the above code : pass the "isSelected" parameter passed to the
super call only for the column for which you want the selection shown -
otherwise pass the value as "false"). Another option is to use a custom
ListSelectionModel to your tableColumnModel that allows selection of only one
column.

Note that if you use the renderer approach, the "column" parameter passed to you
is the column number in the view - not the model.

BK