Klausner Technologies, Inc. announced today that it has filed a patent lawsuit under its visual voicemail patents against Apple Inc. and AT&T Wireless regarding the iPhone, with damages and future royalties estimated at US$360 million (according to Klausner’s press release).
The lawsuit asserts that Apple’s iPhone Visual Voicemail and other visual voice messaging services implemented by ATT infringe upon Klausner Technologies’ U.S. Patents 5,572,576 and 5,283,818. These patents have already been licensed to various other companies that provide visual voicemail, including Time Warner’s AOL for its AOL Voicemail services, Vonage Holdings for its Vonage Voicemail Plus services as well as others, under the Klausner Patents.
Klausner Technologies was founded by Judah Klausner, the inventor of the PDA and electronic organizer. Apple’s original groundbreaking PDA, the Newton, was, in fact, covered under an OEM patent license granted by Judah Klausner over twenty years ago under his landmark US Patent 4,117,542.
The iPhone violates Klausner’s intellectual property rights by allowing users to selectively retrieve voice messages via the iPhone’s inbox display. Apple, in their marketing materials, has called iPhone’s Visual Voicemail “one of the greatest advances in the history of mankind … without question.”
The suit has been filed by the California law firm of Dovel & Luner in a federal court in the Eastern District of Texas. “We have litigated this patent successfully on two prior occasions,” said Greg Dovel of Dovel & Luner, counsel for Klausner Technologies, in the press release. “With the signing of each new licensee, we continue to receive further confirmation of the strength of our visual voicemail patents.”
Klausner Technologies owns U.S. and international patents covering visual voicemail products and services which allow users to selectively retrieve individual voice messages via their cell phones and PCs.
@ Pay Up
Wasn’t your username “Bend_Over_4_Ballmer” before?
This patent was granted despite existing art.
Back in 1990, I Installed a multiline answering machine on an Amiga 2000 that had a visual listing of the calls and recorded messages that you could select and listen to without listening to all the messages. My client used it for years. It could answer, give various messages based user settings, record answers, list time received, number, etc.
The patent for Klausner was filed March 1992.
The Amiga solution was available on the market prior to that.
So this patent is 20yrs old?
Doesnt that make it obsolete?
If that is the case then this guy is wasting his time trying to sue Apple.
This whole patent thing in the USA is a joke, and these parasites always go crying to the Texas Courts too.
Maybe the people running Texas should wake up and join the rest of the world.
Pay the guy his $360 Million and move on… just yet another blood sucker!
2girls1cup is truly disgusting.
I’m very disappointed at MDN for running this version of the article. Typically, they cite their source; here, they did not. I mention this because several versions of this story have already appeared in the media (do a Google news search for more), and I noted that the InfoWorld version is much more critical of Klaustner Technologies.
Try to find an actual working product they offer. For that matter, try to find their Web site. In both cases, you will come up empty-handed. This is a case of a patent troll not unlike NTP. And by deftly planting a story about their lawsuit against Apple and others, the defendants are, in the media, guilty until proven innocent. You will see Apple’s stock price took a hit today as well.
Isn’t it time that Congress skewered some of the scum running these patent troll companies, as well as their vermin attorneys? I for one wonder if the patent laws should not be amended to deny patents to firms that are simply portfolio shells, and have no intention of ever making a product. It is a distortion of the entire patent process, and the USPTO should know better. It’s time too, to crack down on courts like those in Texas that are a friendly bay for these pirates. My only hope is that Apple will prevail, and not have to pay penny. Maybe then Apple will countersue and collect some well-deserved punitive damages.
Hungry much?
Pay Up,
Please disregard Randians advise to go to law school. Please just go to hell instead. Thank you.
According to this article I found Judah Klausner says he is not a Patent Troll:
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:J8DG_UtdRTQJ:www.managingip.com/includes/magazine/PRINT.asp?SID=648429&ISS=22412&PUBID=34+"Judah+Klausner"&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=us&client=safari
“What is the Patent Office’s job?”
keeping the courts in Texas busy so they can’t execute mentally unfit people?
With a name like Judah I have to wonder what kind of person he is!
You apple fanbois are the reason I love to read this site. I’m pretty sure half you crazies would jump in front of a bullet to save Steve j.
Chuck used a macbook tonight..who knew buymore carried them.
@yo
I’m pretty sure half you crazies would jump in front of a bullet to save Steve j.
That would be the decent thing to do, though. Wouldn’t it? Gosh, imagine a world in which people were willing to take bullets for each other.
“keeping the courts in Texas busy so they can’t execute mentally unfit people?”
That would be a STATE courts job, not Federal. You might want to stay away, shen…..just to be safe.
Read the patents, they are for different things. They have similar words and Klausner’s patent does talk about getting message out of order, but the interface is for two different designs. They’re trying to make press and then they’ll try to settle because they know they don’t have a legal leg to stand on.
That’s why they iPhone is protected by 200 or so <strike>condoms</strike> patents. For insurance.
They don’t claim they invented Visual Voice Mail.
They merely improved and placed a interface to the technology.
Also AT&T;has envisioned Visual Voice 15 years ago it truly is their conception… Klausner Technologies, Inc. was hired to bring the project to life.
This will all be settled once Klausner Technologies, Inc. is dealt with a fair deal on the success of iPhone.
William Galyor
“That would be a STATE courts job”
they have a division of labor in texas?
…and don’t worry, i will stay FAR away!
Fake name. That guy can’t spell Gaylor.
What we have here is another name infringement. That’s about all.
Like Cisco’s IP-hone or iPhone.
Apple simply trademarked their version of visualvoice, making sure to differentiate their brand from any other company with a similar service or technology. We must study the two methods, approach, and differences to each other BEFORE some was has truly WRONGED.
Dougless
@Yo
Yep I would!
And if it was Steve Ballmer, I would be the one firing the bullet.
So much for Apple innovation… turns out they copied the idea from someone else. Just like the Newton.
Visual Voicemail is not stolen, its common sense.
Its the way it should have been, and Apple was just the first to do it, but many other people have thought of the idea first… >.<
I have the “Fits in your hand” patent. If it fits in your hand I have that patent. So if you have a product that fits in your hand – pay up sucka. My team of over paid lawyers are coming for you.
I’m currently applying for the “Fits in both of your hands” patent.
Oh and I’m a scientist, a doctor and mathematician, musician, lawyer, artist, computer programmer and a bunch of other things that you can say you are an expert at and post here to claim to know everything.
MW – love