Visto Corp. sues Microsoft for patent infringement

Visto Corp., a firm that provides wireless e-mail or what is popularly known as mobile e-mail startup services has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. for infringing its patents for technology that support e-mail on mobile devices. The patent according to Visto deals with the way information is handled between servers and handheld devices such as cellular phones.

Visto, in a strongly worded statement, claimed, that it was its co-founder- Daniel Mendez who along with some others at Visto, had developed and patented a system to enable mobile users to receive e-mail delivered to servers. Windows Mobile 5.0, released last summer by Microsoft, claims to be able to connect directly to Microsoft Exchange Server so that device users have direct access to their e-mail and other personal information, which as alleged by Visto, has been patented by it.

Visto’s President and CEO, Brian A Bogosian, in his statement accusing Microsoft for the same, said, "Microsoft has a long and well-documented history of acquiring the technology of others, branding it as their own, and entering new markets. 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."

Ready to fight for justice to the very end, he added, "Innovative companies have been pummeled out of existence or into minor players after Microsoft decided to enter their markets. Netscape and RealNetworks are among the best known examples. Courts around the world have ruled time after time against Microsoft, saying that it has acted either inappropriately or in violation of the law, especially concerning how they have treated competing companies. We will not let that happen to Visto."

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Marshall, Texas, seeks unspecified monetary damages and an injunction barring the sale of products. It filed on the same day Visto announced that NTP Inc. had acquired an equity stake in the startup and signed a patent licensing deal.

Visto’s lawsuit specifically alleges that Microsoft has infringed on three patents relating to its mobile access to email and data technology:

* U.S. Patent No. 6,085,192 titled, “System And Method For Securely Synchronizing Multiple Copies Of A Workspace Element In A Network”

* U.S. Patent No. 6,708,221 titled, “System And Method For Globally And Securely Accessing Unified Information In A Computer Network”

* U.S. Patent No. 6,151,606 titled, “System And Method For Using A Workspace Data Manager To Access, Manipulate And Synchronize Network Data”

An important dimension to the case is that it has come at a time when Visto’s biggest rival, Research In Motion Ltd., is facing a possible shut-down of its Blackberry mobile e-mail service after patent holding company NTP Inc. won an infringement ruling against it.

Some of Visto’s high profile customers include Vodafone Group, the world’s biggest mobile service provider, as well as U.S. market leader Cingular Wireless, a venture of AT&T Inc. and BellSouth and Sprint Nextel Corporation.