Apple Settles iPhone Lawsuit, Licences Visual Voicemail Patent

Klausner Technology Inc announced today that Apple Inc, eBay Inc and AT&T Inc have agreed to license its “visual voicemail” technology and settled a lawsuit against them. The financial details of the settlements or licensing deals are still unclear, but Klausner said it was also in discussions with Comcast Corp and Cablevision Systems Corp about using the technology.

“The patent litigation with Apple has been settled. The patents have been licensed to Apple,” said company founder Judah Klausner. Separate settlements and licensing deals had been reached with AT&T, the U.S. carrier for Apple’s iPhone, and with eBay and its Skype Web-cased calling service.

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 sued the companies for $360 million in damages and future royalties last December for violating its patents on technology that sends visual alerts to computers or mobile telephones when a user has a voice message. It claimed that the original idea was their own and call for an injunction to stop Apple from infringing any further on the patent.

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. Existing licensees of the technology include Internet telephone company Vonage Holdings Corp and U.S. wireless carrier Sprint Nextel Corp.