Klausner unleashes new horde of visual voicemail lawsuits

By Geoff Duncan Published May 10, 2011

Klausner Technologies — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Klausner Technologies might just be the little patent holding company that could: the company has announced it has launched a dozen new lawsuits against major technology companies for infringing on its visual voicemail patents. And while the list of new litigation targets includes some firms consumers may never have heard of, it does include some very big names, including Toshiba, NEC, Samsung, Alcatel-Lucent, and Seimens.

At issue in the suits are over two dozen patents central to visual voicemail, which Judah Klausner pioneered back in the 1970s while doing work on early PDA technologies. And Klausner’s patents seem to be holding up to litigation just fine: no one has sucessfully challenged the validity of Klausner’s patents, and the company has inked licensing agreements with very high-profile companies—including Apple, Sprint, and Google.

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“Thirty-three companies worldwide have now signed patent license agreements with us under our Visual Voicemail patents. As the inventor of these patents and on behalf of our company, I just can’t allow unlicensed companies to use our IP,” said Judah Klausner, in a statement.

The companies targeted in the new round of lawsuits are Shortel, Toshiba, Mitel, J3 Global Communications, Alcatel-Lucent, Paetec, Primus Telecommunications, Samsung, Siemens Enterprise Communications, Windstream Corporation, NEC, and XO Holdings. The suits have all been filed in in the patent holder-friendly Eastern District of Texas; California law firm Dovel & Luner is handling the cases for Klausner.

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Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

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