Patents are a necessary evil. There are some that maintain that patents stifle innovation, while others believe that are indispensable for the technology industry.
Regardless of which side they are on, most technology enthusiasts will agree that technology patents have gained a vital importance for consumer and computing technology, in many cases even more so than a decade of two back.
Take Skype for instance — the VoIP platform is one again causing trouble for Redmond.
According to Bloomberg, VirnetX filed the lawsuit at the federal court in Tyler, Texas claiming that the software titan is using technology without authorization that infringes upon six patents the corporation holds. According to Kendall Larsen, the CEO of VirnetX:
“Although Microsoft previously signed a patent license with VirnetX, we believe they are infringing our patents in ways that are outside the scope of the original license. We look forward to quickly resolving this matter.”
A Microsoft spokesperson, David Cuddy, was quick to respond as well:
“Every successful technology company sees patent suits from time to time. We’re confident in our handling of intellectual property and look forward to addressing these claims.”
As noted above, VirnetX took Microsoft to court back in 2010 for infringing its private network patents. A settlement was reached, and it received $200 million from Microsoft back then. Nevertheless, this latest development is surely worth keeping an eye on.
