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fart

That's a pretty difficult patent for Klausner to prove. I think it falls in the realm of obvious technology.

I mean who did not think of saving voicemail in a file. THis is like the digital voice memo recorders or like saving audio files on your computer... Apple did that since ever.
Now if the method of saving the music is the same as Klausner (I highly doubt it) hten it's anotehr story.

"Eastern District of Texas" once again. I hope the new U.S. Attorney General can put a stop to shopping in Texas.

I also hope Apple arrived at something unique on their own.

Dec 03, 07 - 03:48 pm Comment from: Gandalf

Presumably this is a patent on the business model rather than the software which is not patentable anywhere outside the US. The business model patent fails the obvious test and you don't even have to be skilled in the art.

Dec 03, 07 - 03:50 pm Comment from: Realist

The only thing in this legal action that a jury ought to address is this:

"Apple, in their marketing materials, has called iPhone's Visual Voicemail "one of the greatest advances in the history of mankind ... without question."

It would be very interesting to see that claim stand the test of mankind's history.

Like it was a surprise that they were going to use visual voice mail - they announced it from day one in January and now they come forward and sue. They should have made an injunction to have them not use it if they were concerned. Yeah wait until the phone is popular then sue - bunch of idiots..

The only winners here are the lawyers.

Dec 03, 07 - 03:55 pm Comment from: TowerTone

"Hola, AT&T;, and hello, Apple. Welcome back to East Texas. We have your mail waiting for you...."

Dec 03, 07 - 03:58 pm Comment from: Crabapple

Y? Oh! Y? do we all have to be subjected to all this Bull Shit?

If this patent truly does belong to them as they imply, why didn't they raise their claim as soon as VVM was displayed In January?

CISCO raised their claim upon the unvailing of the name "iphone", they came to an agreement with Apple inc.

What was preventing KT from raising an objection then? I certainly haven't had the experience of being offered VVM on any electronic product PDA or not, I wouldn't even call email on a PC VVM if that is what they are implying!!!!!

Y? Oh Y??????

Apple steals yet another idea and pretends that they invented it. They should just shut up and pay the man.

Crabapple
"What was preventing KT from raising an objection then?"
Because they hoped the iPhone would sell a million. That takes a while. Now they want to license the patent for $36. per iPhone.

Dec 03, 07 - 04:13 pm Comment from: Mr. Reeee

Bottom Feeders!

Dec 03, 07 - 04:16 pm Comment from: Randian

@Pay Up

You can't steal an "idea," sir or madam. You can steal only the implementation thereof, via code or mechanism. Otherwise, I would like to patent the idea of time travel right now. And turning lead into gold. And making things invisible. And reversing the aging process. And flying to the moon on gossamer wings.

Grow up (and go to law school).

Dec 03, 07 - 04:24 pm Comment from: MacFhearghaile

Isn't there a time limitation on technical patients? like 7 years or so? I'm not a patient lawyer, just curious.

Regardless of the (questionable) merits of the patent, isn't "Visual Voicemail" a trademark of Apple, and isn't Klausner infringing that?

Dec 03, 07 - 04:36 pm Comment from: TowerTone

"Bottom Feeders!"

2Girls/1cup?

Dec 03, 07 - 04:39 pm Comment from: Crabapple

@ MikeR, If that is the main reason why, then the simplest way to nullify this claim is for both companies to release the programming documentation of the software.

That way, very clearly without any doubt whatsoever, the coding finger print will point out as to what is really what.

Since Apple's OS has always been opensource, it can be said that ( I hope) that if an infringement was in the making, the opensource community would have picked that up and pointed it out sooner rather than later, which they still haven't.

Further more, Apple inc. have over two hundred patents associated with the iphone. What is the Patent Office's job? if not to protect patents by preventing infringement before it occurs by denying a patent were one already exists?

If the Patent Office have cross checked VVM against all other possible VVM type patents and have examined the documentation & execution of the application & have granted or not opposed the patent, and the opensource community whose job it is, is to make sure that any opensource implementation falls within the classification of opensource before being granted that status, (phew)

What ground does KT stand on? apart from the possibility that some sub-routine they implemented many years ago could possibly be called Visual VoiceMail? Or if indeed they have used the title VVM on some sub-routine, the fact that that sub-routine has never been visual or implemented as a visual does not fall in their favour, if anything my humble thinking is that CISCO had more of a claim on the name "iphone" than Apple inc. did even though Apple inc. gave the prefix 'i' to the World with the advent of the iMac. Is that why CISCO settled so quickly?

Going even further back, without Apple Computers, Computing would probably still have been in the Dark Ages of a literary dark screen called DOS.

Without Next Computers & NextStep software, the internet would only just be available now to the masses, (You & I).

Without Sir Tim Banners Lee & his team, the internet would have developed like MOTOR DRIVING, when once you did not need a driving licence if you could afford a car, when motoring rules did not exist, when people drove anywhere a car could go, when Roads, Freeways & Motorways did not exist, and when they finally did exist, each country set about creating its own incompatible system.

So, what claim can KT really make in the light of all that history?

I wonder?

Dec 03, 07 - 04:43 pm Comment from: Crabapple

@MacFhearghaile, Death! is the time limit on all patients!!! Aaaah ha! ha! haaaa!!!!!!

Thanks for the laugh!!!

PS. Doctors for patients & Lawyers for Them Greeedy Baastards!

Dec 03, 07 - 04:46 pm Comment from: shiftOpt k

@Pay Up,

I don't think Apple has pretended to invent most of what they are being sued over. I'm pretty confident they weren't with the VVM anyway. They were just stating it's a great technology and it's in their phone. At least that's how I understood it anyway.

Dec 03, 07 - 04:46 pm Comment from: Anonymous©

Last I checked it was 17 years for patents before they expire.

Dec 03, 07 - 04:46 pm Comment from: silverhawk

Crabapple
Perhaps KT wants their 10 million like the last company who sued Apple.

Dec 03, 07 - 04:54 pm Comment from: Crabapple

@ silverhawk,

You could be right! not that Apple inc. has their 10 million!

If Apple inc. chose not to fight, but to negotiate, then KT would have the club with the proverbial nail they could use to whack all the other companies with.

Thanks for sobering me up after all that ranting blather I engaged in!!!

Dec 03, 07 - 04:58 pm Comment from: Crabapple

Bye yawl!!!!

Klausner... what a lame attempt.

Klausner is probably familiar with that "Doug - Mankind" commercial because he is the guy that owes Doug money.

Dec 03, 07 - 06:03 pm Comment from: Jubei

@ Pay Up

Wasn't your username "Bend_Over_4_Ballmer" before?

Dec 03, 07 - 06:34 pm Comment from: Swordmaker

This patent was granted despite existing art.

Back in 1990, I Installed a multiline answering machine on an Amiga 2000 that had a visual listing of the calls and recorded messages that you could select and listen to without listening to all the messages. My client used it for years. It could answer, give various messages based user settings, record answers, list time received, number, etc.

The patent for Klausner was filed March 1992.

The Amiga solution was available on the market prior to that.

Dec 03, 07 - 07:00 pm Comment from: Petey

So this patent is 20yrs old?

Doesnt that make it obsolete?

If that is the case then this guy is wasting his time trying to sue Apple.

This whole patent thing in the USA is a joke, and these parasites always go crying to the Texas Courts too.

Maybe the people running Texas should wake up and join the rest of the world.

Pay the guy his $360 Million and move on... just yet another blood sucker!

2girls1cup is truly disgusting.

I'm very disappointed at MDN for running this version of the article. Typically, they cite their source; here, they did not. I mention this because several versions of this story have already appeared in the media (do a Google news search for more), and I noted that the InfoWorld version is much more critical of Klaustner Technologies.

Try to find an actual working product they offer. For that matter, try to find their Web site. In both cases, you will come up empty-handed. This is a case of a patent troll not unlike NTP. And by deftly planting a story about their lawsuit against Apple and others, the defendants are, in the media, guilty until proven innocent. You will see Apple's stock price took a hit today as well.

Isn't it time that Congress skewered some of the scum running these patent troll companies, as well as their vermin attorneys? I for one wonder if the patent laws should not be amended to deny patents to firms that are simply portfolio shells, and have no intention of ever making a product. It is a distortion of the entire patent process, and the USPTO should know better. It's time too, to crack down on courts like those in Texas that are a friendly bay for these pirates. My only hope is that Apple will prevail, and not have to pay penny. Maybe then Apple will countersue and collect some well-deserved punitive damages.

Hungry much?

Dec 03, 07 - 08:18 pm Comment from: LorD1776

Pay Up,
Please disregard Randians advise to go to law school. Please just go to hell instead. Thank you.

According to this article I found Judah Klausner says he is not a Patent Troll:
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:J8DG_UtdRTQJ:www.managingip.com/includes/magazine/PRINT.asp?SID=648429&ISS=22412&PUBID=34+"Judah+Klausner"&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=us&client=safari

Dec 03, 07 - 08:25 pm Comment from: shen

"What is the Patent Office's job?"

keeping the courts in Texas busy so they can't execute mentally unfit people?

With a name like Judah I have to wonder what kind of person he is!

You apple fanbois are the reason I love to read this site. I'm pretty sure half you crazies would jump in front of a bullet to save Steve j.

Dec 03, 07 - 08:42 pm Comment from: BiZarRo BaLlmEr

Chuck used a macbook tonight..who knew buymore carried them.

Dec 03, 07 - 08:55 pm Comment from: Shogun

@yo

I'm pretty sure half you crazies would jump in front of a bullet to save Steve j.

That would be the decent thing to do, though. Wouldn't it? Gosh, imagine a world in which people were willing to take bullets for each other.

Dec 03, 07 - 09:07 pm Comment from: TowerTone

"keeping the courts in Texas busy so they can't execute mentally unfit people?"

That would be a STATE courts job, not Federal. You might want to stay away, shen.....just to be safe.

Read the patents, they are for different things. They have similar words and Klausner's patent does talk about getting message out of order, but the interface is for two different designs. They're trying to make press and then they'll try to settle because they know they don't have a legal leg to stand on.

That's why they iPhone is protected by 200 or so condoms patents. For insurance.

They don't claim they invented Visual Voice Mail.
They merely improved and placed a interface to the technology.

Also AT&T;has envisioned Visual Voice 15 years ago it truly is their conception... Klausner Technologies, Inc. was hired to bring the project to life.

This will all be settled once Klausner Technologies, Inc. is dealt with a fair deal on the success of iPhone.

William Galyor

Dec 03, 07 - 10:24 pm Comment from: shen

"That would be a STATE courts job"

they have a division of labor in texas?

...and don't worry, i will stay FAR away!

Fake name. That guy can't spell Gaylor.

What we have here is another name infringement. That's about all.
Like Cisco's IP-hone or iPhone.

Apple simply trademarked their version of visualvoice, making sure to differentiate their brand from any other company with a similar service or technology. We must study the two methods, approach, and differences to each other BEFORE some was has truly WRONGED.

Dougless

Dec 04, 07 - 04:31 am Comment from: Petey

@Yo

Yep I would!

And if it was Steve Ballmer, I would be the one firing the bullet.

So much for Apple innovation... turns out they copied the idea from someone else. Just like the Newton.

Visual Voicemail is not stolen, its common sense.

Its the way it should have been, and Apple was just the first to do it, but many other people have thought of the idea first... >.<

I have the "Fits in your hand" patent. If it fits in your hand I have that patent. So if you have a product that fits in your hand - pay up sucka. My team of over paid lawyers are coming for you.

I'm currently applying for the "Fits in both of your hands" patent.

Oh and I'm a scientist, a doctor and mathematician, musician, lawyer, artist, computer programmer and a bunch of other things that you can say you are an expert at and post here to claim to know everything.

MW - love