Visto has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft, accusing it of improper use of patented Visto technologies in Microsoft's software
for accessing e-mail from phones and other wireless devices.
The action kicks off another legal battle in the wireless e-mail market. Research in Motion (RIM) is currently defending a
suit brought by NTP, which says RIM used NTP technology patents illegally in RIM's BlackBerry e-mail devices. Just yesterday,
Visto said it had licensed those patents from NTP.
Visto's suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, seeks unspecified monetary damages and a
permanent injunction preventing Microsoft from shipping the software in question, Windows Mobile 5.0. Visto called the product
"a blatant infringement on Visto's patented technology."
It also accused the software maker of routinely stealing technologies from smaller companies and settling subsequent court
cases with hefty payments.
A spokeswoman for Microsoft in the U.K. was not immediately able to comment on the suit.
Visto's software is used by carriers including Cingular Wireless, Sprint Nextel, and Vodafone Group. Its lawsuit accuses Microsoft
of infringing on three U.S. patents in particular. They are patent No. 6,085,192, titled "System And Method For Securely Synchronizing
Multiple Copies Of A Workspace Element In A Network;" No. 6,708,221, "System And Method For Globally And Securely Accessing
Unified Information In A Computer Network," and No. 6,151,606, "System And Method For Using A Workspace Data Manager To Access,
Manipulate And Synchronize Network Data."
Patents can be viewed by searching the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site, at http://www.uspto.gov/
Brian Bogosian, Visto's chairman, chief executive officer and president, will discuss the suit further in a conference call
for press at 2 p.m. Eastern Time.
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(InfoWorld) - In the litigious world we live in, deploying a unified communications platform in your enterprise could...
