Patent spat deepens

Shoretel has responded to a patent infringement lawsuit from Mitel with a counterclaim alleging that Mitel's IP phone systems infringe a Shoretel patent

The dispute, which could cost millions of dollars to resolve, is ostensibly over the ownership of Shoretel's plan for Voice Traffic through a Firewall. A patent with that title is lodged by Shoretel, which claims Mitel's 3300 IP Communications Platform infringes it.

Shoretel claims the original Mitel patent infringement lawsuit was a diversionary tactic. 'The timing was intended to interfere with our successful initial public offering,' said John Combs, chief executive of Shoretel.
Other IP telephony vendors were unimpressed by the dispute. 'What a colossal waste of time and money,' said Simon Clark, European sales director at Atrica. 'The only winners will be the lawyers.'