Disqus
Well, this isn’t just another patent infringement case against the iPhone. Whereas all previous lawsuits basically rested on the shakiest of ground, the latest lawsuit brought against Apple and AT&T by Klausner Technologies has some merit. The firm has alleged that the iPhone’s Visual Voicemail feature infringes on Klausner’s U.S. Patents 5,572,576 and 5,283,818.
The lawsuit was filed against Apple and AT&T for offering the patented technology to iPhone customers and is seeking damage and future royalties that could amount to $360 million. Outlined in the lawsuit is Klauser’s claim that AT&T and Apple have infringed their intellectual property by giving iPhone users a method to selectively listen to messages in the voicemail system – Visual Voicemail. And, it seems that the lawsuit has some firm ground to stand upon.
Klausner Technologies has already successfully established their intellectual property rights in previous litigation against Time Warner AOL for the AOL Voicemail system. The firm was able to show that their patents were valid and landed a licensing agreement with Time Warner AOL.
“We have litigated this patent successfully on two prior occasions,” said Greg Dovel of Dovel & Luner, counsel for Klausner. “With the signing of each new licensee, we continue to receive further confirmation of the strength of our visual voicemail patents.”
And, to add more legitimacy to the lawsuit, the firm has filed similar lawsuits against Comcast Corporation, Cablevision Systems Corp., and Skype for infringing on Klausner patents by allowing users to selectively listen to voicemail messages.
Good luck, Apple and AT&T (not to mention all those other firms currently under fire). We’re usually quick to dismiss frivolous lawsuits, but this one sounds like it’s of the valid-variety. A settlement might just be your best bet.
We should note that Klausner Technologies granted an OEM license to Apple to cover the Apple Newton PDA when it was launched all those years ago. Interesting.
[Via: MacWorld]
About The Author
Will Park
Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...
