REDWOOD SHORES, Calif.-The flurry of legal wrangling in the wireless e-mail space continued as Visto Corp. filed a patent infringement suit against competitor Good Technology Inc.
The software developer accused Good of violating four of its patents for synchronizing, managing and accessing mobile e-mail. Visto, which claims it has held the patents for nine years, is seeking a permanent injunction against the competing GoodLink service as well as undefined monetary damages.
“Good Technology, like other late entrants to this market, has no patents directed to wireless e-mail and very clearly infringes on our long-held intellectual property,” Visto Chief Executive Officer Brian Bogosian said.
A representative from Good declined to comment until the company had a chance “to see and review this complaint.”
The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas, where Visto filed a similar lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. in December. Visto is also engaged in patent-infringement suits with competitor Seven Networks Inc. and its subsidiary Smartner Information Systems Ltd.
The latest filing comes as Good, Seven, Visto and a handful of others jockey to take advantage of a potential shutdown of Research In Motion Ltd.’s mobile e-mail service. RIM is facing an injunction in its high-profile battle with patent-holding company NTP Inc. and may be forced to kill service to its U.S. BlackBerry users.
Visto last month gave NTP an equity stake in exchange for licensing rights to NTP’s patents. NTP has also licensed its offerings to Good as well as to Nokia Corp., which has since paid $430 million to acquire wireless e-mail provider Intellisync Corp.
