First Apple goes after Taiwanese cell phone maker HTC over infringement of no less than 20 of its patents, and now the man who invented the PDA (personal digital assistant) is targeting the company.
Entrepreneur and inventor Judah Klausner, or rather his company Klausner Technologies, has filed suit against HTC for patent infringement under its U.S. Visual Voicemail patents.
The lawsuit is based on the unveiling by HTC of its MyTouch 3G mobile phones, which Klausner Technologies claims alleges uses its patented Visual Voicemail technology. The company adds that various other HTC models with the Visual Voicemail feature are already covered under Klausner Technologies Visual Voicemail patent licenses granted to certain mobile operators for their Visual Voicemail services.
Klausner Technologies says it currently has 27 Visual Voicemail patent licensees under its U.S., European and Asian patents, including major U.S. and European mobile operators, international cell phone manufacturers, cable/VOIP providers as well as other providers of Visual Voicemail services.
Just last week, BT Group subsidiary Ribbit entered into a patent license agreement with Klausner Technologies, settling their outstanding litigation.
Perhaps HTC can take some comfort in the fact that it isn’t exactly the first company to get taken to court: Klausner Technologies had earlier sued Verizon Wireless, Google, Apple, Skype, Comcast, AT&T, LG and others claiming that their visual voicemail feature infringes on Klausner’s patents, as well as Motorola and Research In Motion more recently.