Klausner Technologies vs Apple: iPhone Voicemail Patent

Klausner Technologies is suing Apple and AT&T Mobility for the second time over their Voicemail technology. The patent describes a “Telephone Answering Device Linking Displayed Data with Recorded Audio Message.”

The lawsuit was launched in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas, Wednesday.

The patent was first issued to Klausner in 1994 and reinstated on March 18, 2008. In December 2007, Klausner said the iPhone violated the patent “by allowing users to selectively retrieve voice messages via the iPhone’s inbox display.”

Klausner claims that the original idea was their own and call for an injunction to stop Apple from infringing any further on the patent. They are also suing for monetary damages and court costs. Klausner describes its voicemail patent as:

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. These codes or numbers are decoded by means of the caller entering DTMF signals into the telephone which are recognized, recorded and processed by the TAD. When processed with codes and personal information previously entered into the device’s memory, the TAD displays the identity of the callers for each message, thus providing a menu of choices, ie, a list of callers. This enables the user to access message in a selective manner based on the identity of the caller.

Apple highlights similar functionality for its iPhone: “…an industry first, Visual Voicemail allows you to go directly to any of your messages without listening to the prior messages. So you can quickly select the messages that are most important to you.”

Klausner is practically making a fortune by launching lawsuits against other companies. Past defendants have included Time Warner’s AOL and Internet telephony company Vonage Holdings. Both companies have settled and are licensees.

Klausner also filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas a separate $300 million lawsuit that names Comcast, Cablevision Systems, and eBay’s Skype, claiming their products also infringe on the same patents. Klausner is seeking payment for damages and royalties in all the lawsuits.

Related documents: Court Filings for Klausner Technologies Inc v. Apple Inc et al.