Visto Corporation is suing Microsoft for allegedly
infringing its patents covering wireless e-mail and other
applications.
The company is seeking damages and a permanent injunction,
claiming that Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system is a
“blatant infringement on Visto’s patented technology”.
Visto says it is particularly concerned about Microsoft bundling
Windows Mobile 5.0 with its market-dominating Exchange e-mail
server software. By bundling the software with Exchange, Visto
claims the alleged patent infringements will become wider.
The three US patents Visto claims have been breached are “System
and method for securely synchronising multiple copies of a
workspace element in a network”, “System and method for globally
and securely accessing unified information in a computer network”,
and “System and method for using a workspace data manager to
access, manipulate and synchronise network data”.
Microsoft has so far not responded to Visto’s lawsuit.
Visto recently announced that it would be licensing patented
technology from rival push e-mail player NTP. The same patented
technology is at the centre of the ongoing multi-million pound
legal battle between NTP and RIM.
NTP has already won a court judgement against RIM that the
Blackberry device maker infringed its patents, and RIM is looking
to settle and avoid having its US network closed down within
weeks.