Friday, December 6, 2024
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Apple sued for patent infringement involving its iMessage service/app

Another day, another lawsuit. Apple is being sued for, as usual, patent infringement by a company called Seatoun Media. In a lawsuit filed in the lawsuit-friendly Texas Eastern District Court, the company claims Apple’s iMessage service/app violates a 15-year-old patent for recording and playing back voice messages over a network, reports AppleInsider.

It involves patent number 6,356,626 for “point to point voice message processor, method and recording/playback device.” Here’s the summary of the patent: “A voice message processor is disclosed for producing remote voice recordings in a decentralized, non-networked environment. Connections are provided for a communication link capable of transmitting and receiving calls over a public communication network, for a telephone set, and for a recordable voice message recording/playback device. 

“A switching device provides a first state in which the telephone set connection and communication link connection are connected together, a second state in which the voice message recording/playback device input is connected to the communication link connection, and a third state in which the voice message recording/playback device output is connected to the communication link connection. A controller enable the voice message recording/playback device to be selectively recorded and played back when the switching device is in its second state and enables the voice message recording/playback device to be selectively played back when the switching device is in its third state.”

Seatoun Media argues multiple claims of the patent apply to a number of Apple products, highlighting those equipped with iMessage or able to be used with other messaging software to be infringing. The “non-limiting” list in the complaint includes the iPhone 4 and later models, iPads, the iPod touch, and iMessage itself.

Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.