Visto sends email infringement message

A US patent ruling in favour of Visto Corporation could lead to an injunction against BlackBerry providers Research in Motion (RIM) to halt its mobile email service.

A Federal Court ruled Friday in favour of Visto Corporation, concluding that Seven Networks' mobile email service had infringed on the company's system, which was created several years ago. Visto hopes the ruling will validate a similar suit it filed the same day against RIM, in which it seeks an injunction to halt the service and claim monetary damages.

The jury awarded damages of 19.75 per cent in royalties of the revenue Seven made from the infringed products. This amounts to a total of about $3.6 million. It found that Seven wilfully infringed five claims from three separate patents in its Enterprise, Server and Personal Edition products.

"Friday's sweeping decision against Seven Networks validates our claims that Visto's intellectual property serves as the basis for this industry's birth," Visto Chief Executive Officer Brian Bogosian said in a statement. "There was no ambiguity in the jury's decision. Likewise we believe that RIM's infringement of Visto's technology will be halted. Our case against RIM is based on similar technology, law and patents as the case we have just won in federal court against Seven Networks."