RIM being sued by Visto May 2, 2006
From the “Here We Go Again” files…
Visto sues RIM for patent infringement - Computerworld
MAY 01, 2006 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - BlackBerry users have another patent lawsuit to worry about. Just weeks after their service was nearly shut down by a lawsuit brought by NTP Inc., the wireless e-mail devices are now being threatened by legal action brought by software provider Visto Corp. In a lawsuit filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Visto claims that Research In Motion Ltd.’s (RIM’s) BlackBerry service violates four Visto patents. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and asks the court to shut down BlackBerry’s service in the U.S.
Clearly one to keep an eye on. RIM settled with NTP just two months ago, for $612.5 million. Hopefully this one won’t drag on as long as the previous drama did, but I wouldn’t count on it.
From Blackberry Cool, the patents being sued over are:
- 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. 6,023,708, titled “System And Method For Using A Global Translator To Synchronize Workspace Elements Across 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”
It goes without saying that RIM is disputing this - “RIM believes it does not infringe Visto’s patents and will file its legal response in due course” is the appropriate quote. A countersuit is a distinct possibility.