On Monday, Klausner Technologies filed a patent lawsuit against AT&T, Apple, Comcast, Cablevision, and eBay. The allegation: a violation of its visual voicemail patents.
The suits were filed in a federal court in the Eastern District of Texas. In suing AT&T for selling the Apple iPhone with its visual voicemail service, Klausner is seeking damages and future royalties estimated at $360 million.
Klausner is suing Apple for the same violations and the same amount. According to the suit, the iPhone violates Klausner’s intellectual property rights by allowing the user to retrieve voice messages selectively via the iPhone’s inbox display, the suit alleges.
PDA Inventor Strikes Back
In addition, Klausner claims Cablevision’s Optimum voicemail, Comcast’s Digital Voice voicemail, and eBay’s Skype voicemail each violate Klausner’s intellectual property rights by allowing users to retrieve and listen to voice messages selectively via message inbox displays.
“We have litigated this patent successfully on two prior occasions,” said Greg Dovel of Dovel & Luner, counsel for Klausner Technologies. “With the signing of each new licensee, we continue to receive further confirmation of the strength of our visual voicemail patents.”
Indeed, the Klausner patents in question already have been licensed to various other companies that provide visual voicemail services, including Time Warner’s AOL and Vonage Holdings.
Klausner Technologies was founded by Judah Klausner. Apple’s original PDA, the Newton, was covered under a patent license granted 20 years ago by Judah Klausner under U.S. Patent 4,117,542, according to Dovel.
Going for Broke
The companies named in the suits could not immediately be reached for comment. But Ilan Barzilay, a member of Wolf Greenfield’s Litigation Practice Group who litigates a variety of intellectual property cases, said Klausner has zeroed in on its alleged infringers and is looking for a payday.
“Klausner has a couple of settlements under its belt with big players, which is always key….