Mobile Messaging Is Backdrop For Vendors' Patent Suits
A patent suit filed last month by start-up Good Technology against rival vendor Research In Motion (RIM) alleges that RIM's single-mailbox patent infringes on Good Technology's newly released wireless e-mail product.
On the heels of that suit, Visto, a provider of cross-platform wireless messaging services, said attorneys are in the process of reviewing the company's patents.
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Good technology filed a patent suit against RIM, maker of the BlackBerry 957 PDA (pictured).
Visto, based here, released its first messaging product in 1997. It owns eight patents and believes it could have claims against some newcomers to the space, Daniel Mendez, Visto's CTO, told CRN.
"I wouldn't mention a specific company, but we are definitely going to enforce our intellectual property rights," he said. "What course of action we will take, we haven't singled out yet."
Dan Elliott, vice president of mobile business solutions at CompuCom, Dallas, said there may be a number of as-yet-undisclosed patent disputes in the offing.
Good Technology's suit in particular is cause for concern, he said.
"You have to wonder from a patent perspective how this is going to play out," Elliott said. "I've got to think that there will be some issues there."
The suit filed by Good Technology, Sunnyvale, Calif., attempts to confirm that the company's technology does not infringe on patents held by RIM, according to a company statement.
"RIM has been vocal about protecting its single-mailbox patent," the statement said. "Good [Technology does not infringe on RIM's single-mailbox patent."
A spokeswoman for Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM said the company would not comment on legal matters.
Mark Hugh Sam, a wireless analyst at Dundee Securities, Ontario, said he believes the patent claims are simply a way for smaller companies to try to shore up a position in an increasingly competitive but relatively slow-growing market. "At this point, we don't expect wireless to take off until at least 2003," he said.
Hugh Sam estimates that market penetration for wireless e-mail devices totals about 1 million in the United States.