Inventor Files More Patent Suits Involving Visual Voicemail
Aug 26, 2008
Klausner Technologies has once again set its sights on a long list of companies that it claims are violating its patents for visual voicemail technology.
After settling patent suits with Apple, AT&T, eBay/Skype and Comcast earlier this year, Klausner filed a new patent infringement lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Texas today against nine more companies, including Google, Verizon, LG Electronics, Citrix Systems and Embarq.
And there may be others. According to Reuters, inventor Judah Klausner "said he would consider filing lawsuits against additional companies that failed to license his patents, including Web-based phone service providers, but that many smaller companies have opened settlement talks recently."
Reuters also reported that one company that doesn't seem willing to settle, at this point, is Verizon. The telco filed its own lawsuit against Klausner earlier this month, asking a federal judge in New York to "declare the inventor's visual voicemail patent invalid."
Coincidentally, visual voicemail on my cellphone was malfunctioning today, which made me realize just how much I've come to rely on it as a quicker way to check who's left a message...hopefully, the technology won't be derailed by the litigation.
Tags:
Apple, Google, intellectual property, iPhone, Klausner, patents, Verizon, visual voicemail
