14 DAY TRIAL // This is not the first time an unknown company files a lawsuit against Apple or other big corporations for allegedly stealing their ideas. But when the suing company bought the rights for that patent just a few years ago, it is pretty clear we have a new so-called Patent troll.
According to Patently Apple, the lawsuit was filed by the Cedatech Holdings, LLC – a company from Texas. They say that a patent they own since 2010 was infringed by Apple with the launch of Siri and the Speech Recognition software installed on all iOS Devices.
The cited sources mention that Cedatech Holdings actually bought the patent from Talkway INC, a Californian company that got their invention request filled back in February 2002. Back then, Apple and other companies were far from releasing the iPhone, even though Voice Recognition Software was developed. The patent was referring to a way to integrate an audio or video program into an application. "A user of the application program interacts withe the audio or video program as though the audio or video program were part of the application program," Pretty wide and abstract description for a patent.
The Texan company believes they have the right to ask Apple, HTC and Dell for money because of that patent of invention, and they say that the iPhone 5 infringes at least one claim of their Patent, just because iOS has a microphone button that will listen to your voice and accept it as an input instead of the keyboard.
"Apple has indirectly infringed at least one claim of the '591 Patent, through induced infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271. Apple is notified of its infringement of the '591 Patent as of the filing of this complaint. Nevertheless, Apple continues its acts of indirect infringement by continuing to actively induce consumers to practice the invention claimed in the '591 Patent. Apple instructs consumers to use Apple devices with speech input, within the scope of the '591 Patent. For example, consumers are induced to use iPhone 5 with speech recognition to provide input into separate application programs," the law suit says.
Earlier this year, Apple was sued by a German company known as a patent troll that wanted to get $2 billion (€1.57 billion) for infringing one of their European patents for 3G and LTE devices. A court in Germany dismissed the case.