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      ShoreTel Hurls $10M Countersuit Against MitelThe brewing legal dispute between ShoreTel Inc. and Mitel (News - Alert) Networks Corp. took a nasty turn Tuesday, as ShoreTel responded to Mitel’s earlier lawsuit with a countersuit asking for $10 million in damages.
In late June, Mitel filed suit against ShoreTel (News - Alert), claiming the enterprise IP
 telephony company infringed on four of its patents related to automatic web page generation, portable user telephone profiles, automatic telephone feature selector, and local area communications server. The timing of the suit—just as ShoreTel was about to stage its IPO—was considered more than mere coincidence by some industry observers.In its countersuit, ShoreTel denied all of Mitel's claims of patent infringement. In addition, the suit alleges Mitel's IP phone systems, including the Mitel 3300 IP Communications Platform, infringes ShoreTel's U.S. Patent No. 7,167,486 B2 entitled "Voice Traffic Through a Firewall
." Besides filing a claim for monetary damages, ShoreTel requested an injunction against Mitel in Ontario Superior Court for making false or misleading statements about ShoreTel's alleged infringement.
"We are confident in our position, and believe the timing of Mitel's filing was intended to interfere with our later successful IPO," said John W. Combs, chief executive of ShoreTel, in a statement. "ShoreTel will defend its position and pursue its claims against Mitel vigorously."
ShoreTel’s countersuit could be a harbinger of increasing tension between communications companies vying for a slice of the unified communications market, particularly for small businesses. Competition is likely to stiffen as industry giants such as Microsoft (News - Alert) increasingly make their presence felt.
Spencer Chin is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Don't forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users.
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