Competitors won’t leave Microsoft (MSFT) alone. Time Warner (TWX) sued it over Netscape. RealNetworks (RNWK) sued it over its multimedia player. Even a little company called Burst sued the big software company over its audio and video server technology. Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) sued it over its use of audio software.
Now, Agere (AGR) is suing Microsoft over its use of certain VoIP intellectual property. Agere is being bought by LSI Logic for $3.5 billion. But, that is only a coincidence.
Agere was part of Bell Labs, the research arm of the old AT&T. Agere claims that Microsoft’s VoIP technology is partially based on work done by engineers at Bell Labs.
The suit comes at an difficult time for Microsoft. It has been trumpeting it ability to deliver VoIP to hundreds of thousands of businesses through its server architecture, news which probably makes the phone companies sweat.
Agere could try to prevent Microsoft from deploying its VoIP software.
But, all they may want is money.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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