ShoreTel countersues Mitel

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 02 August 2007 11:07

IT Industry - Deals

IP telephony specialist ShoreTel has denied Mitel Networks' claims of patent infringement, and has launched its own patent case against the rival company.

ShoreTel asserts that Mitel's IP phone systems infringe its US patent 7,167,486B2 ("Voice Traffic Through a Firewall").

In addition to around $US10 million in damages, ShoreTel is also seeking an injunction to prevent Mitel making false or misleading claims about the matter.

"We are confident in our position, and believe the timing of Mitel's filing was intended to interfere with our later successful IPO," said ShoreTel CEO John W. Combs.

Mitel filed its suit in late June, alleging the ShoreTel infringed four of its patents: 5,940,834 ("Automatic web page generator"), 5,703,942 ("Portable telephone user profiles using central computer"), 5,541,983 (" Automatic telephone feature selector"), and 5,657,446 ("Local area communications server").

"Mitel has invested significant resources into intellectual property in support of its communications innovations, and we intend to assert our rights against those that infringe that intellectual property," said Christian Szpilfogel, Office of the CTO, Mitel.