CopyTele, a “patent enforcement entity” based in New York, has filed a patent
infringement suit against Microsoft in connection with its Skype IP calling and
messaging service, now used by 280 million people every month. The two patents in
question come from Secure Web Conference Corporation, a subsidiary of publicly-traded CopyTele. They are 6,856,686 B2 (’686
Patent), and 6,856,687 B2 (’687 Patent), respectively covering “method and
apparatus for securing e-mail attachments” and “portable telecommunication
security device.” “The Patents-in-Suit, generally speaking, relate to secure
web-based peer-to-peer communications,” CopyTele writes in its complaint.
If
things go CopyTele’s way, this is just the beginning: Robert Berman, the CEO of
CopyTele, tells TechCrunch that there are between 90 and 100 web conferencing
companies that CopyTele believes are also violating the same patents. “This is
a $4 billion industry,” he said. “This is the initiation of what will be a
broader patent enforcement campaign.”
CopyTele
will have to get in line for its Skype suit: as of last month, the Microsoft
subsidiary is also being sued by VirnetX over patent infringement claims (for the second
time; they’d already settled past claims). A case brought by a company called
Via Vadis, both in Europe and the U.S. back in 2011, around the time that the deal between Microsoft and Skype was first
announced, was thrown out in a German court in January.
Nor
are these the first patent infringement suits that CopyTele has brought against
the tech community. In January, it filed suits against E Ink and AU Optronics Corp, related
to technology used in products like Amazon’s Kindle and the Nook from Barnes
& Noble, among others.
CopyTele
is also amassing other patent portfolios and plans suits against other
entities. These include companies that offer loyalty programs. It’s also bought a Windows patent
portfolio (for actual windows — not Microsoft Windows).
Companies
like Google, BlackBerry and Earthlink have lobbied against patent trolls and what it calls
“patent privateering,” when patent enforcement entities make deals with larger
companies to take over their portfolios and bring cases against competitors.
But Berman paints himself as something of a patent enforcement crusader and
takes issue with the categorically negative picture painted around patent
trolls.
“I
think every patent case needs to be judged on their own merits,” he said. “Just
as there are good and bad personal injury lawyers, there are good and bad
patent assertion companies. I don’t think it’s fair to assess every company
that doesn’t make products as a villain. We are not in the nuisance lawsuit
business, particularly when large companies make money out of licensing. What
gives large companies the right to do this and not small companies?”
As
of today, Senator Charles Schumer is also wading into these waters with proposed legislation that will change how these kinds of
cases are brought to court. He’s suggesting that each suit should be reviewed
by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office before it can proceed through the court
system, so that it can vet the cases and decide whether they have any merit on
patent grounds. In Schumer’s estimation this should ferret out illegitimate
claims while letting genuine patent violations proceed along the costly route
to court appearance, or settlement. In theory, if this legislation passes, if
CopyTele (or any other company) believes that it has a legit case, it should
have nothing to worry about.
We
are reaching out to Microsoft for comment on this and will update as we learn
more. Update: Microsoft has responded with a “no comment.”
Full complaint below.
[Source]
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