Microsoft and Visto, which provides mobile e-mail services, said Monday that they have settled a long-running patent dispute.
The companies did not disclose details of the settlement; Visto had alleged that Microsoft violated its mobile e-mail patents. In a press release, Visto said it has entered into a licensing deal with Microsoft that involves "cash and non-cash consideration."
The case was slated to go to trial on March 10.
In 2006, Visto prevailed in a patent infringement suit brought against Seven Networks. The company ultimately about $7.7 million in damages.
Still unresolved is a patent suit brought by Visto against BlackBerry maker Research in Motion. Visto alleges that RIM violated four of its patents. That case is scheduled to go to trial in July.
Visto erased one of its patent lawsuits Tuesday, settling all claims against Seven in exchange for a licensing deal.
Last year Visto won a jury verdict against Seven, as well as $7.7 million in damages and an injunction against the sale of Seven's products that was stayed pending appeals. At the time Seven had expressed hope of overturning Visto's patents, but it has since thrown in the towel and will now license Visto's patent portfolio, the two companies announced in a press release Tuesday.
Sound familiar? It seems that patent lawyers are making just as much money off mobile push e-mail as technology companies. Research In Motion (RIM), the giant in this field, fought a long-running patent battle against NTP that it eventually settled for $612.5 million. RIM is also a defendant against Visto, as part of a notable group that includes Microsoft and Motorola's Good Technology subsidiary. Visto and NTP have separate patent portfolios but have signed a cross-licensing deal, aligning both Davids against the Goliaths.
Visto, like the other companies, develops software that "pushes" corporate e-mail to mobile devices as it arrives, instead of the user having to log into an e-mail server to retrieve messages. The company's software is not used very widely in the U.S., where the BlackBerry dominates, but Visto has cut deals with some carriers in Europe.
Visto announced Thursday that its push e-mail software will support the iPhone, giving gadgetheads a round of ammunition for the upcoming battle with their IT department.
Apple isn't pitching the iPhone as a business device, but lots of executives with money to burn on sexy gadgets might try to find a way to use their new toys for business purposes. The iPhone supports the MAP e-mail standard with SSL encryption, which means it is feasible to connect an iPhone to any mail server using IMAP. However, this isn't the most secure way of connecting to a corporate network and is therefore likely to be met with blank stares from the IT guy when you ask to have your snazzy new iPhone set up with corporate e-mail.
But if your company is using Visto's software to send e-mail to mobile devices, you'll be all set, said Haniff Somani, vice president and chief architect for Visto. You won't have to enter a username or password to access your e-mail, and the IT guys won't have to make any changes to their policies regarding mobile devices, he said.
The problem is Visto is not that big in the U.S., where the iPhone goes on sale tomorrow. Visto has a larger customer base in Europe, but the iPhone is not expected to arrive there until later this year. Research In Motion, king of the push e-mail world, has yet to indicate if it will support the iPhone.
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