Less than two weeks ago, Microsoft was served with a lawsuit by VirnetX, claiming that its Skype VoIP service violates six of VirnetX"s patents relating to Virtual Private Networking (VPN). Today, another company has taken aim at Microsoft and Skype with its own patent lawsuit.
CopyTele"s press release stated today that its subsidiary, Secure Web Conference Corporation. filed the lawsuit today in U.S. District Court in New York. CopyTele, which says its business model involves the acquisition of "patented technologies for the purposes of patent monetization and patent assertion" claims Microsoft Skype service violates patents related to "encryption technology" that are owned by Secure Web Conference Corporation.
In a statement, CopyTele"s president and CEO Robert Berman claims that the patents involved in the lawsuit with Microsoft "are a prime example of the enormous, untapped potential at CTI." He added that the company will launch "additional assertion programs" (i.e. more lawsuits) as well as work on acquiring more patents.
Microsoft has yet to comment on the new CopyTele lawsuit. The company acquired Skype in October 2011 for $8.5 billion. Since then, Microsoft has continued to see Skype expanded to more platforms, including Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, and it now generates two billion minutes of calls per day worldwide.
Source: CopyTele | Image via Microsoft