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Panasonic, Yahoo, more admit defeat, sign deal with Klausner
It's easy to mock the little guy when he takes a handful of giant corporations to court. Such litigious overzealousness usually gets tangled up or tossed out altogether -- Klausner Technologies, however, is laughing all the way to the bank, with a stellar track record taking on some of tech's biggest names over the past few years. To date, the company has scored wins in visual voicemail patent battles with Apple, Google, Verizon, LG, and Vonage -- the company also struck a deal with Sprint, though presumably with less teeth-pulling. This week, Klausner added four more big wins to the list, inking deals with Panasonic, Yahoo, Qwest Communications, and Avaya in the wake of suits against the tech firms. The company still has ongoing battles with RIM and Cisco that will hopefully stay civil. We'd hate to see someone send a visual voicemail they'd regret later.
Google, LG settle visual voicemail patent suits with Klausner
As expected, Google and LG have joined Apple, AT&T, and Verizon in settling their visual voicemail patent lawsuits with Klausner Technologies. The LG agreement is the more straightforward of the two, since it covers LG devices like the Versa directly, but things get more complicated with Google since it doesn't actually make its own phones -- Klausner wouldn't say if the agreement shielded Android licensees from patent claims. We're hoping Google's attorneys got it all sorted out, but we'll see who else is next on Klausner's naughty list. Read - Google Read - LG
Verizon caves, settles Klausner visual voicemail suit by signing license
We figured back in August that Verizon (and LG) would eventually be forced to pay up in order to keep visual voicemail on its handsets, and sure enough, that's exactly what has gone down with the former company. Verizon and Klausner Technologies have quickly settled outstanding patent litigation by way of Verizon entering into a patent license agreement for using visual voicemail. To date, Verizon is the 15th company to ink such an agreement, ensuring that the suits at Klausner can remain firmly parked in Grand Cayman, Aruba, Maui or any other blissful location they please for the remainder of their Earthly lives. As for LG? We'd say the outcome is all but imminent at this point.[Via phonescoop, image courtesy of MyDigitalLife]
Klausner says "not so fast," sues Verizon and LG over visual voicemail
So patent holding firm Klausner Technologies figures it has this whole litigation thing down to a T at this point, having already sued a who's-who of companies having anything to do with visual voicemail in the past and ultimately coming away with a whole bunch of lucrative license agreements for its efforts (eleven, to be exact). Needless to say, any new company that tries to break into the game at this point is probably going to get treated with the same warm, fuzzy love, and Verizon and LG are experiencing that firsthand. Klausner has announced that it has filed suit against both companies in Texas federal court, presumably in response to Big Red's recent launch of the refreshed Voyager featuring visual voicemail software on board. Given the track record Klausner has, guys, you might just want to cut to the chase here and pay up.
Apple settles Visual Voicemail lawsuit
Klausner Technology Inc., owner of a telephone answering machine patent "linking displayed data with [a] recorded audio message" settled with Apple over the use of Visual Voicemail on the iPhone, reports Macworld. Klausner was granted the patent in 1994, and renewed it in March. As part of the settlement, Klausner is licensing the patents to Apple and AT&T. Klausner has already licensed it to Vonage, Sprint Nextel, and eBay. The details of the settlement were not released, but Klausner had been asking for $360 million in damages.
Apple settles visual voicemail lawsuit, licenses Klausner's patents
Klausner Technologies' litigious ways have already proven successful with Vonage, and it now looks like the company has got what it wanted out of Apple as well, which it had sued (along with AT&T) back in December over the iPhone's Visual Voicemail feature. As Reuters reports, both Apple and AT&T have agreed to license Klausner's patents relating to Visual Voicemail, and settle the lawsuit that was brought against them, although any other details are expectedly light at the moment. It seems that Klausner isn't quite content to sit on its patents just yet, however, with Reuters also reporting that the company is "in discussions" with both Comcast and Cablevision about them using the very same technology.[Via CNET News.com]
Sprint licenses Visual Voicemail for the Samsung Instinct
It looks like Samsung's Instinct won't just be kinda-sorta doing some iPhone stuff -- it will be doing actual iPhone stuff. Sprint announced that it has licensed Klausner's Visual Voicemail (yes, Visual Voicemail) for use in the familiar looking device, adding weight to the argument that this is the carrier's official play for the iPhone market. If you'll recall, Klausner sued AT&T and Apple over the feature, which it claims violated two of its patents. Now all they need to do is throw Cover Flow, Google Maps integration, and some wiggly icons on there, and this race will really get heated.[Via I4U News]
Vonage settles long-standing Klausner litigation
One step forward, two (or more) steps back. That seems to be the recurring theme for Vonage these days, as just hours after officially requesting a review of the Verizon patent decision, the firm is now settling its legal dispute with Klausner Technologies. The settlement is the second this week for the outfit, and while no financial terms of the deal were discussed, Vonage was granted "a patent license related to voice messaging." Another one down, who knows how many to go.
Vonage sued again for patent infringement
Move over Verizon, 'cause Klausner Technologies wants a crack at the telecommunication whipping boy du jour, Vonage. In yet another claim of patent infringement, Klausner, a patent holding company with 25 VoIP voicemail patents to its name, is seeking $180 million in damages and royalties to compensate the suffering endured by their private investors. This, after failing to convince Vonage to sign a licensing deal back in January like they did with Time Warner in April for the technology behind AOL Voicemail. And just in case you're taking odds on who'll sue whom next, Vonage just announced that it had acquired three unrelated VoIP patents for the compression of packetized digital signals allowing them to go after, and collect licensing fees from competitors like Motorola, Time Warner, Qwest, Sprint, and you guessed it, Verizon. Oh what a tangled web we weave.
