Kootol Sends Patent Violation Notice to Apple, Microsoft and Others

Kootol Sends Patent Violation Notice to Apple, Microsoft and Others

According to a news release, India-based Kootol Software, has sent a notice to several companies for violating a patent that it has rights to. The patent in question is U.S. Patent Application number 11/995,343 and it "covers core messaging, publication and real time searching technology".

In the announcement, Kootol said that it has sent the legal notice to: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Apple, Bharti Airtel, Webaroo Technology (India), Amazon, AOL, Nokia, Bebo, ExactTarget, Ford Motor, Foursquare, IBM, Linkedin, MySpace, NING, Research In Motion, Quora, Salesforce.com, Seesmic, Siemens Enterprise Communications, Sina.com, StatusNet, PopBox, Twitpic, Peek, The Iconfactory, Ubermedia, Yammer, Facebook and Twitter.

The patent application itself lists the name of Yogesh Rathod, who is the co-founder of Kootol Software.

However, the patent hasn't been awarded to either Rathod or Kootol yet. As reported by Macworld, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued "A Notice of Allowance". That means that while an applicant is entitled to a patent under the law, he must pay an issue fee (and potentially publication fee) first within three months. But as noted by CNET News, this doesn't prevent Kootol from working out licensing deals in the interim. As pointed out by Florian Mueller over at FOSS Patents, by contacting potential infringers at this stage, "Kootol gives all of those organizations an opportunity to contact patent offices that (unlike the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) could still be persuaded to reject the application, such as the European Patent Office (which contrary to popular misbelief does grant European software patents on a daily basis)."

Source: Macworld, CNET News, FOSS Patents