Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Visto files patent-related lawsuits

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 18:59:56 -0400

Visto files patent-related lawsuits

by Mike Dano
Sept. 24, 2003

Patent battles continue to rage across the wireless enterprise industry, as Visto
Corp.  joins the fray with separate lawsuits against rival wireless e-mail
companies Infowave Software and Seven Networks Inc. 

The nation’s courts have already engaged several such lawsuits from similar
players, with Research In Motion Ltd., Pumatech Inc., Good Technologies Inc. and
others embroiled in patent litigation. Analysts have cited the sluggish economy as
the main driver for most of the legal squabbles, as companies look to shore up
their businesses and protect their patents while hoping to bleed their competitors
with costly litigation. 

Indeed, Visto is fresh off a massive $50 million funding round. Visto Chief
Executive Officer Brian Bogosian told RCR Wireless News in June that the company
would use its funding in part to fund potential legal battles. 

Visto filed its lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of
Texas. The company alleges Infowave is violating its patent No. 5,961,590, which
relates to the system and method for synchronizing e-mail. Visto claims Seven is
violating two Visto patents, Nos. 6,085,192 and 6,023,708, which describe systems
and methods for securely synchronizing multiple copies of a workspace element in a
network, and the use of a global translator to synchronize workspace elements
across a network. 

“Visto has spent seven years and nearly $100 million dollars researching,
developing and patenting technologies that are key to the secure synchronization
of data within networks, and which are vital to Visto’s industry-leading solutions
for data mobility,” Visto’s Bogosian said. “We believe that Infowave and Seven
have built significant portions of their businesses on unauthorized use of our
patents, with absolutely no patents of their own. Visto has the resources and the
will to see that all illegal uses of our technologies are stopped.” 

Infowave and Seven issued press releases following the news, both claiming to have
not yet viewed the suits and proclaiming their innocence. 

“Seven can only infer from the lack of communication that this action is part of a
campaign by Visto to unjustly claim proprietary rights to real innovation and open
standards,” Seven said in its release. “Seven hopes that the wireless community
will follow our lead, focus on creating products to benefit customers and not
engage in frivolous litigation.” 

Visto, Seven and Infowave all offer wireless e-mail and corporate information
access products. 

http://rcrnews.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=15214

http://www.visto.com
http://www.infowave.com

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