NEW YORK -- A software company allied with NTP Inc., the small firm suing the maker of the BlackBerry devices for patent infringement, has opened another front in the tangled battle over wireless e-mail patents. Visto Corp., which provides e-mail software to cell-phone companies, said Tuesday that it filed a patent infringement suit against Good Technology Inc., a provider of similar services for smartphones and other handheld devices.
Visto, which is based in Redwood Shores, Calif., claims Good Technology infringes on four patents granted between 1999 and 2004 that cover communication between a device and a larger network. The suit was filed in federal court for the Eastern District of Texas. Reena Mukamal, a spokeswoman for Good Technology, said the company had not had a chance to look at the complaint and could not comment yet.
The company is based in Santa Clara, Calif. Visto has licensed different patents from NTP Inc., whose suit against Research in Motion Ltd., the Canada-based maker of the BlackBerry, has prompted concerns that RIM's e-mail system could be shut down. NTP has also taken an equity stake in Visto. Good Technology is also a licensee of NTP patents. In December, Visto sued Microsoft Corp., saying its latest Windows software for handheld devices infringed on three Visto patents. Software from Visto and Good Technology is resold by Cingular Wireless LLC, Sprint Nextel Corp. and some foreign carriers. Both companies are privately held.
www.latimes.com
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
'Point And Search' Technology For Cell Phones Hits Japan
Users can point their cell phones at 700,000 buildings, retailers, restaurants, banks, and historical sites throughout Japan to retrieve
information. By W. David Gardner TechWeb News
GeoVector Corp. said Monday that it has teamed up with Japan's Mapion to offer Mapion's cell phone searching technology for mobile phones in Japan. Mapion Local Search enables consumers to use their cell phones as point and search devices to call up information.
San Francisco-based GeoVector said users can simply point their cell phones at 700,000 buildings, retailers, restaurants, banks or historical sites throughout Japan to retrieve information.
"Soon, users will point their mobile phones at restaurants to get reviews, point at billboards to shop at the advertiser's website, point at a movie poster to buy tickets, or play a game by pointing at their friends," said GeoVector president John Ellenby, in a statement.
The service was initially developed for the KDDI network in Japan and is available for use with CDMA-equipped phones with GPS and integrated compass capability, according to GeoVector.
Owned by CyberMap Japan, Mapion developed mapping technology for several firms including Yahoo, AOL Japan, and Excite Japan, GeoVector said. GeoVector provides its pointing-based and spatial search engine technology for the application.
www.informationweek.com
information. By W. David Gardner TechWeb News
GeoVector Corp. said Monday that it has teamed up with Japan's Mapion to offer Mapion's cell phone searching technology for mobile phones in Japan. Mapion Local Search enables consumers to use their cell phones as point and search devices to call up information.
San Francisco-based GeoVector said users can simply point their cell phones at 700,000 buildings, retailers, restaurants, banks or historical sites throughout Japan to retrieve information.
"Soon, users will point their mobile phones at restaurants to get reviews, point at billboards to shop at the advertiser's website, point at a movie poster to buy tickets, or play a game by pointing at their friends," said GeoVector president John Ellenby, in a statement.
The service was initially developed for the KDDI network in Japan and is available for use with CDMA-equipped phones with GPS and integrated compass capability, according to GeoVector.
Owned by CyberMap Japan, Mapion developed mapping technology for several firms including Yahoo, AOL Japan, and Excite Japan, GeoVector said. GeoVector provides its pointing-based and spatial search engine technology for the application.
www.informationweek.com
MS sells technology to start-ups
AMSTERDAM: Microsoft Corp said on Tuesday it has joined research-intensive organisations to sell its non-core technology to start-up companies in an attempt to earn money from discoveries that would otherwise gather dust. The world's largest software maker said it was already working with government agencies in Ireland and Finland to reach young companies that may be interested in technology from Microsoft's multi-billion dollar research arm.
"We provided three Irish companies with source code to test and subsequently licensed it to one, Softedge Systems. Since then we've taken another three technologies to Entreprise Ireland and expect at least another two deals before July," said David Harnett, senior director at Microsoft IP Ventures. Enterprise Ireland is a government-backed incubator programme for start-up companies. Microsoft is also working with a similar organisation in Finland called Sitra. Microsoft said it was also in touch with government institutions in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore and has listed available technologies at www.microsoftipventures.com . Dublin-based Softedge was provided with imaging technology that can identify objects in pictures and digitally remove them, a technology developed in Microsoft's Beijing lab.
Microsoft's research and development budget is around $1.5 billion per quarter but the software firm reckons that many of its inventions are more interesting for other companies than Microsoft itself.
economictimes.indiatimes.com
"We provided three Irish companies with source code to test and subsequently licensed it to one, Softedge Systems. Since then we've taken another three technologies to Entreprise Ireland and expect at least another two deals before July," said David Harnett, senior director at Microsoft IP Ventures. Enterprise Ireland is a government-backed incubator programme for start-up companies. Microsoft is also working with a similar organisation in Finland called Sitra. Microsoft said it was also in touch with government institutions in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore and has listed available technologies at www.microsoftipventures.com . Dublin-based Softedge was provided with imaging technology that can identify objects in pictures and digitally remove them, a technology developed in Microsoft's Beijing lab.
Microsoft's research and development budget is around $1.5 billion per quarter but the software firm reckons that many of its inventions are more interesting for other companies than Microsoft itself.
economictimes.indiatimes.com
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