While Rates Technology Inc of New York may be a little known firm to most of us, it’s sure well known to many technology companies, including the likes of Microsoft, Lucent and Avaya among approximately 120 others. Those companies have paid what seem to be ransoms to RTI to settle threatened lawsuits over patents that they own and claim have been infringed upon. Currently it has suits against Alcatel, Vonage and Cablevision seeking billions of dollars in damages, presumably hoping for fat settlements without actually going to trial. It’s also in settlement talks with Ebay’s Skype division over alleged infringements.
RTI has a new deep pocketed, high profile prize in its sites: Google. It claims that Google Talk, that company’s new VOIP service, also infringes on patents it owns and has slapped them with a lawsuit.
Jerry Weinberger, the president of RTI, said talks broke down earlier this year due to Google’s "arrogance."
"Google thinks we’re peons who can’t bring them to their knees," he added, "but they’re wrong."
A Google spokesman dismissed the lawsuit as "without merit" and pledged that the company "will defend against it vigorously."
Although the lawsuit does not specify damages, Weinberger said that if Google refuses to settle the lawsuit and RTI prevails, the company would seek $5 billion in damages based on royalties that will have accrued over the course of the trial, which could last for four years.
While that number may seem high, the VoIP market is poised to explode — industry analysts have predicted the global VoIP market could exceed $30 billion by the end of the decade….
"It looks like RTI goes after every VoIP company that comes across its radar screen," said Rich Tehrani, of Internet Telephony magazine. "And if they don’t pay, RTI sues them."
Google Warned Over VOIP Patent by Serial Suit-er – New York Post
