Taiwan university sues Apple for infringing upon voice-to-text technology News
Taiwan university sues Apple for infringing upon voice-to-text technology
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[JURIST] A Taiwanese university announced Monday that it has filed a patent suit against Apple [corporate website] in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas [official website]. Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University [university website] holds two different patents related to voice-to-text technology that were issued in 2007 and 2010. The university claims [Reuters report] that Apple infringed upon these patents by using Siri [materials], a feature allowing consumers to complete tasks via voice commands, in its iPhones and future iPads. The specific amount of damages sought was not revealed, but Yama Chen, legal manager of the university, stated that possible damages would be based on sales of Apple’s products that use Siri. Chen also announced that the university is considering additional patent infringement suits against Google and Microsoft [corporate websites].

Apple has been involved in patent litigation around the globe against rivals Samsung Electronics, HTC and Motorola [corporate websites]. Last week the Federal Court of Australia [official website] began hearing [JURIST report] two patent infringement cases brought by Apple and Samsung Electronics. Apple has sued Samsung for infringing numerous patents by producing smartphones and tablets similar in design to the iPhone and iPad. In response, Samsung brought a counterclaim alleging that Apple unlawfully used its 3G technology that allows users to take calls while uploading photos and other documents. On the same day the US International Trade Commission (USITC) [official website] upheld [JURIST report] a decision by an administrative law judge that Apple legitimately used digital image preview technology patented by Eastman Kodak [corporate website]. Earlier this month, a UK court ruled [JURIST report] in favor of Samsung in a design infringement case brought by Apple alleging that three of Samsung’s tablets infringed upon Apple’s registered design patents while Samsung denied infringement. The court held that the designs of Samsung’s Tablets 10.1, 8.9 and 7.7 did not infringe upon the Community Registered Design No. 000181607-0001 which belongs to Apple. On the other hand, a judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California [official website] issued an injunction [JURIST report] against Samsung to stop the sale of its Galaxy Nexus smartphone in the US.

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