Klausner Sues Google, Verizon On Voicemail

Judah Klausner is back: after getting settlements with Apple and Sprint, he's going after Google, Verizon, LG, and others for violating his voicemail patents.

Inventor Judah Klausner—generally considered the “father of the PDA” for his work creating electronic organizers in the 1970s—has filed a new patent infringement lawsuit targeting Google, Verizon, LG, Citrix, Cox Communications, Embarq Corporation, and others for infringing on patents Klausner believes covers visual voicemail. And Klausner has some courtroom history to back him up: he went after Sprint and Apple with similar claims, and won agreements from them both earlier this year; Comcast has also reportedly struck a deal. Klausner also won settlements from Vonage and AOL, and, last we heard, was still pursuing similar claims against Skype and Cablevision.

Klausner’s new suit was filed in the patent-friendly eastern district of Texas. Verizon apparently didn’t want to be caught as a sitting duck, though: it filed its own suit against Klausner in the eastern district of New York seeking to have Klausner’s patents declared invalid.

When filing suit against Skype, Comcast, Apple, and others last year, Klausner claimed that patent violations by the defendants amounted to some $360 million in royalties and damages, although the terms of Klausner’s settlements with the companies have not been disclosed.

Klausner, now in his mid-50s, developed technologies for personal organizers in the 1970s, reportedly after wondering why electronic calculators with memory functions didn’t do anything more useful. With others, he developed and implemented the technology, and licensed patents to several electronics manufacturers in the 1970s nand 1980s.