Now there is a patent law suit against Microsoft. The sharp point of arrow in this patent case is at Skype. CopyTele, a company that regards itself as a specialist in monitization and assertion of patents, has sued Microsoft claiming that some of the technologies used in the Skype readily violate patents, which are originally owned by its subsidiary company, registered as Secure Web Conference Corp.
The company has complained that Microsoft has violated two patents, which were granted in the year 2005. One of the patents goes as “Method and apparatus for securing e-mail attachments” and the other one is “Portable telecommunication security device”. Both of the patents are related with the peer-to-peer communication performed through web technologies, which are also used by Skype for its Web based communications. They no doubt share the same domain but if they overlap or not that can be clear only as the case progress.
According to the detailing of the first patent as done by Robert Berman, the CEO of CopyTele, it can be applied to the exchange of information through public and private key encryption, and users are identified directly by the email addresses. Whereas, the second technology under patent is used in a security device that clearly has a microprocessor and keyboard and multiple input and output facilities. According to the organisation, a smart phone or a computer on which Skype can run can be surely taken as a security device, and thus it violates the patent laws.
CopyTele had a fresh group of management in September, 2012. In the month of January, 2013, it filed a patent lawsuit on technologies related to electrophoretic display. In that case, their prey was AU Optronics and E Ink Holdings, and now it is the tech-giant Microsoft that has become the point of the latest patent lawsuit by the firm. In the last month, the company is reported to have added two more patent portfolios in its kitty. There was no comment available from the part of Microsoft on this lawsuit, but it is undoubtedly true that CopyTele has got a big opponent this time who is not surely going to make things easy for them.