VirnetX has opened a new front on its VPN patent battle with Microsoft...and this time it's targeting Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008.
On the heels of dealing Microsoft a $106 million patent defeat over VPN technologies included in Windows XP and Windows Vista (Microsoft plans to appeal), holding company VirnetX has filed a new patent infringement lawsuit against the Redmond software giant, how alleging the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 violate patents on the same VPN technology.
Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 weren’t included in the original lawsuit because neither product had been released at the time it was filed. VirnetX is being represented by McKool Smith of Dallas, which is the same law firm that led i4i’s (so far) winning patent battle against Microsoft for infringing on custom XML patents; the case has seen Microsoft forced to alter its Microsoft Office software suite in order to keep it available for sale. Microsoft recently lost its second appeal in that case.
In the previous case involving VirnetX’s patents, he Texas jury found that Microsoft’s infringement was willful. Microsoft has maintained that it believes VirnetX’s two VPN patents are invalid and, in December 2009, requested the patent officer re-examine the two VirnetX patents for validity. In January 2010, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office confirmed the validity of three claims in one of the patents…so if the same technology is in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008, VirnetX’s chances look good.
