Microsoft challenges Avistar's UC patents

Another patent David and Goliath brawl is underway, this time between UC services company Avistar and Microsoft. The U.S. patent office is to re-examine Avistar's patents after Microsoft this week challenged 24 out of Avistar's 29 of them. The patents are in the fields of instant messaging, video conferencing and online collaboration--all key elements in unified communications.

Avistar describes Microsoft's actions as a "go-for-the-throat" maneuver that was unexpected following more than six months of cordial negotiations surrounding Microsoft's potential licensing of Avistar's intellectual property and technology.

Avistar's CEO, Simon Moss, says Microsoft's actions should be seen in the context of issues surrounding the importance of current patent law as a protection for innovation--much of which comes from small, entrepreneurial companies such as Avistar. Moss argues potential changes to patent regulations would harm smaller companies--and the economic competitiveness of the U.S. Avistar says Microsoft's "strong-arm" tactics come at the same time as the E.U. has fined the software giant $1.4 billion for breaching an anti-trust ruling. 

If all procedural flaws are corrected, the patent office has about two months to decide whether to grant the requests and engage in a formal re-examination. Patent re-examination would take between six months and two years.

For more:
Avistar announces patent challenge Release [1]

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Verizon sues Charter over patents Article [2]
Sprint goes to court for patent breaches Report [3]