Add the remote access PC business to the latest market to erupt over a
patent infringement riff. Last week, 01 Communique Laboratory filed suit
against Citrix Systems, makers of the popular GoToMyPC software.
The software allows users to logon from a remote site and access their home
or office computers. The Canadian-based 01 Communique also makes a remote
access solution known as I’m InTouch and claims Citrix infringes on a patent
issued to 01 Communique in 2005.
“After we received our patent, we started looking around at other products
similar to ours,” Brian Stringer, the chief financial officer of 01
Communique, told internetnews.com. “We decided they [Citrix] were
infringing on certain aspects of our patent.”
According to the suit filed in a U.S. District Court in Ohio, 01 Communique
seeks unspecified damages and an injunction to bar Citrix from marketing and
selling GoToMyPC.
The patent in dispute relates to systems for providing remote access to a
personal computer on the Internet from a remote personal computer. The
actual patent is entitled, “System Computer Product and Method for Providing
a Private Communication Portal.”
The patent has 42 separate claims.
“I really can’t comment on which parts they are infringing,” Stringer said.
“That would be tipping our hand.”
The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Citrix was not available for comment.
“[01 Communique] has been irreparably harmed and monetarily damaged by
[Citrix’s] infringement . . . The harm and monetary damages include, but are not
limited to, lost profits, price erosion and lost sales relating to
affiliated products and services,” the suit states. “If [Citrix’s]
infringement . . . is not permanently enjoined, 01 will continue to be irreparably harmed and monetarily damaged.”
The suit further claims Citrix’s infringement is willful and warrants treble
damages.
Citrix has more than 160,000 customers worldwide, ranging from individual
users to corporations in addition to government and education clients.
01 Communique has been in business since 1992 and first made its I’m InTouch
software publicly available in 2000. The company filed for its patent in
June 2000.
The infringement lawsuit is another in a long line of patent disputes
roiling the technology industry.
Research in Motion, makers of the BlackBerry wireless e-mail device, is
currently facing a possible shutdown of its U.S. service in a dispute with
patent-holding firm NTP of Northern Virginia.