Pender's Blog

Blog archive

Avistar Winning Microsoft Patent Challenges

A couple of months ago, RCPU brought you the tale of Avistar, a maker of video-conferencing software that was facing potentially fatal challenges of 29 of its U.S. patents from none other than Redmond itself.

Back then, we held -- as we do now -- that Microsoft was just trying to put a struggling company out of business and snake its stuff in order to bolster Redmond's own growing unified communications capabilities. Of course, not everybody shared our take, but we've stuck with it.

So, it was with a bit of a non-objective sideways grin that we received word today (as did everybody else; it came out in a press release) that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has rejected, thus far, 14 of the 29 challenges to Avistar's patents put forth by Microsoft. To this point, the press release said, the USPTO has agreed to reexamine nine of the patents, so Avistar is still in danger of losing a few battles.

While we don't know the details of all 29 patents and can't comment on which ones might or might not be legitimate (and while we'll allow that some are probably stronger than others), we were never comfortable with the fact that Microsoft threw all 29 -- pretty much Avistar's entire U.S. patent lot -- up for reexamination. So, yeah, we're kind of pleased by today's news, honestly. It sort of feels like justice, and there's not always a lot of that in today's tech industry, with its domination by a few giant vendors.

Again, we're not anti-Microsoft; we defend Redmond all the time here. We're just glad to see that a smaller competitor is fighting in the face of a wealthier (and ill-behaving, in this case, we believe) monster and is actually winning a battle or two. If nothing else, it makes for an interesting story to follow.

Have any more comments on Avistar or on how Microsoft sometimes does business? Shoot them to [email protected].

Posted by Lee Pender on June 03, 2008


Featured

  • Microsoft Offers Support Extensions for Exchange 2016 and 2019

    Microsoft has introduced a paid Extended Security Update (ESU) program for on-premises Exchange Server 2016 and 2019, offering a crucial safety cushion as both versions near their Oct. 14, 2025 end-of-support date.

  • An image of planes flying around a globe

    2025 Microsoft Conference Calendar: For Partners, IT Pros and Developers

    Here's your guide to all the IT training sessions, partner meet-ups and annual Microsoft conferences you won't want to miss.

  • Notebook

    Microsoft Centers AI, Security and Partner Dogfooding at MCAPS

    Microsoft's second annual MCAPS for Partners event took place Tuesday, delivering a volley of updates and directives for its partners for fiscal 2026.

  • Microsoft Layoffs: AI Is the Obvious Elephant in the Room

    As Microsoft doubles down on an $80 billion bet on AI this fiscal year, its workforce reductions are drawing scrutiny over whether AI's ascent is quietly reshaping its human capital strategy, even as official messaging avoids drawing a direct line.