Skype is infringing a total of six different patents, VirnetX claims in a lawsuit

Apr 23, 2013 11:59 GMT  ·  By

Skype is once again causing trouble to tech giant Microsoft, this time because VirnetX Holding Corporation is suing the Redmond-based company for infringing six of its patents.

VirnetX filed a lawsuit at the federal court in Tyler, Texas, claiming that Microsoft’s Skype VoIP platform uses six of its patents without authorization, according to a report by Bloomberg.

“Every successful technology company sees patent suits from time to time. We’re confident in our handling of intellectual property and look forward to addressing these claims,” David Cuddy, a Microsoft spokesman, was quoted as saying.

This isn’t the first time when VirnetX takes Microsoft to the court. The company sued the software giant in 2010 for infringing private networks patents, receiving $200 million (€154 million) after they reached a settlement.

“Although Microsoft previously signed a patent license with VirnetX, we believe they are infringing our patents in ways that are outside the scope of the original license. We look forward to quickly resolving this matter,” Kendall Larsen, VirnetX CEO, noted.