Voicemail Suit Targets Apple, Skype, Others

Klausner Technologies, Inc.—a patent holding company founded by the “inventor of the PDA” Judah Klausner—today filed lawsuits against Apple, AT&T, Comcast, Cablevision, and eBay’s Skype service for infringing on patents related to voice messaging and visual voicemail services. Klausner’s suits against AT&T and Apple seeks $360 million in damages and future royalties; the suit against Comcast, Cablevision, and eBay totals $300 million.

The patents in question are 5,572,576 (cited in all the suits) and 5,283,818 (cited against Apple and AT&T); they both cover systems offering a visual display for selecting and managing recorded audio messages. The former patent was granted in 1996, the latter in 1994. Klausner has successfully licensed the patents to other parties, and has previously sued Vonage and AOL for infringement of the 576 patent.

The suit was filed by the California law firm of Dovel & Luner—the same firm that handled Klausner’s suit against AO and VonageL—in the known patent holder-friendly Eastern District of Texas. “We have litigated this patent successfully on two prior occasions,” said Greg Dovel of Dovel & Luner. “With the signing of each new licensee, we continue to receive further confirmation of the strength of our visual voicemail patents.”

Klausner settled with both AOL and (just last month) with Vonage for undisclosed amounts, with each company getting a license to Klausner’s patents.

Klausner Technologies holds more than two dozen patents worldwide, including several related to voice services delivered via the Internet and wireless devices. Judah Klausner is often considered the inventor of the PDA (see patent 4,117,542, granted in 1978).