Visto Sues Microsoft over Mobile Email Patents

5:50 am on December 16, 2005 | Category: Business, Email, Law, Web Services, Wireless

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A mobile email technology vendor by the name of Visto has just announced that they are launching a patent infringement lawsuit against Microsoft and the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system.

They are doing this with the help of; you guessed it, NTP, the same patent holding company that has won a similar lawsuit against Research in Motion’s popular BlackBerry device. NTP has signed a patent licensing agreement with Visto, and the two companies plan to enter the market with their own wireless email device if a court injunction halts the sale of RIM’s BlackBerry units.

In this latest lawsuit, Visto says that they own a patent on the technology enabling users to access email that is located on corporate servers, behind firewalls. The latest version of Windows Mobile allows users to connect directly to their email, using a program called Microsoft Exchange Server.

“Microsoft has a long and well-documented history of acquiring the technology of others, branding it as their own, and entering new markets,” said Visto CEO, Brian A. Bogosian in a statement explaining the legal action. “In some cases, they buy that technology from its creator. In other cases, they wrongfully misappropriate the intellectual property that belongs to others. For their foray into mobile email and data access, Microsoft simply decided to misappropriate Visto’s well known and documented patented technology.”

Visto claims that this action will ultimately benefit consumers, but many consumers are already dismissing it as little more than a quick cash grab by the company. Just as in the case of RIM vs. NTP, most users who are happy with their current service prefer not to be uprooted due to legal squabbling within the industry.

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    Published by TeleClick Enterprises
    Edited by Jeremy Maddock