SAN JOSE, Calif. - Visto Corp., a maker of mobile e-mail technology, has sued Microsoft Corp. for allegedly infringing on three of its patents related to how information is handled between servers and handheld devices such as cellular phones.
The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages and a permanent injunction to stop the infringement, was filed late Wednesday — the same day Visto announced that NTP Inc. had acquired an equity stake in the company and signed a patent licensing deal.
Visto's allegations against Microsoft and its Windows Mobile 5.0 are similar to NTP's against Research In Motion Ltd., which now faces the possible shutdown of its popular BlackBerry messaging service in the United States.
Jack Evans, a Microsoft spokesman, said the company has not completely reviewed the complaint and will not comment on it until it has done so.
