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Broadband & Mobile Featured Article
March 24, 2008
Apple, AT&T Re-Sued Over iPhone Voicemail
By Raju Shanbhag TMCnet Contributing Editor
After being sued by Mirror Worlds for allegedly infringing on its patents, Apple (News - Alert) is again in the eye of the storm of another company which cried foul. New York-based Klausner Technologies has filed a complaint against Apple where it says Apple has violated its 1994 patent. This time around, Apple has company; Klausner Technologies has also sued AT&T (News - Alert) for the same reason.
Actually, the lawsuit filed this week by Klausner Technologies is a revision of one filed on Dec. 3 by Klausner Technologies that cited an additional patent and named more defendants: Apple, AT&T, AT&T Mobility, Comcast, CSC Holdings, eBay, GotVoice, and SimulScribe (News - Alert).
According to Klausner Technologies, the company has the patent over the ability to access voice messages nonsequentially. Apple highlights similar functionality on its web site. The company’s web site claims that this facility is the first industry and it you to go directly to any of your messages without listening to the prior messages. This way, user will be able to quickly get to the messages that he wants to go to.
The Klausner Technologies patent describes a “telephone answering device (TAD) which includes a means of intelligently organizing voice messages, associated entered codes such as personal IDs and home telephone numbers, and information stored in the memory of the TAD.” In its web site, the company states that “The iPhone (News - Alert) violates Klausner's intellectual property rights by allowing users to selectively retrieve voice messages via the iPhone's inbox display. This enables the user to access messages in a selective manner based on the identity of the caller. The need to listen to the actual voice messages to determine the caller's identity and the need to listen to the messages sequentially or chronologically is obviated, saving both time and effort.”
Although Apple has been sued many times in the past, the company’s response has been not to react on the cases that are pending.
Raju Shanbhag 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. Today’s featured white paper is Best Practices for Deploying a Virtual Call Center: Tips, Techniques and Best Practices, brought to you by LiveOps (News - Alert).
Actually, the lawsuit filed this week by Klausner Technologies is a revision of one filed on Dec. 3 by Klausner Technologies that cited an additional patent and named more defendants: Apple, AT&T, AT&T Mobility, Comcast, CSC Holdings, eBay, GotVoice, and SimulScribe (News - Alert).
According to Klausner Technologies, the company has the patent over the ability to access voice messages nonsequentially. Apple highlights similar functionality on its web site. The company’s web site claims that this facility is the first industry and it you to go directly to any of your messages without listening to the prior messages. This way, user will be able to quickly get to the messages that he wants to go to.
The Klausner Technologies patent describes a “telephone answering device (TAD) which includes a means of intelligently organizing voice messages, associated entered codes such as personal IDs and home telephone numbers, and information stored in the memory of the TAD.” In its web site, the company states that “The iPhone (News - Alert) violates Klausner's intellectual property rights by allowing users to selectively retrieve voice messages via the iPhone's inbox display. This enables the user to access messages in a selective manner based on the identity of the caller. The need to listen to the actual voice messages to determine the caller's identity and the need to listen to the messages sequentially or chronologically is obviated, saving both time and effort.”
Although Apple has been sued many times in the past, the company’s response has been not to react on the cases that are pending.
Raju Shanbhag 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. Today’s featured white paper is Best Practices for Deploying a Virtual Call Center: Tips, Techniques and Best Practices, brought to you by LiveOps (News - Alert).
