Apple, AT&T sued over iPhone use of patented voice mail technology

Do Apple and AT&T routinely infringe on patents in the knowledge that it may take years for the case to drag through courts and in the meantime they get the benefit of a technology which is not theirs and for which they didn’t pay?

Is this the way to run a legitimate business?

It all starts with Klausner Technologies, a company that holds numerous telecommunications patents. Klausner is suing both Apple and AT&T for patent infringement on its voice mail management technology.

The suit isn’t the first time Klausner has brought giants in the communications industry before the bench for similar patent infringement.

In 2005 the company slapped AOL with a $200 million suit stemming from AOL’s use of a visual display to retrieve voice mails, one of 25 patents Klausner’s company holds in the area of remote retrieval of voice messages.

Klausner settled with AOL/Time Warner and AOL signed an agreement to pay licensing fees for use of the technology.

In 2006, Klausner was back again this time suing Vonage Holdings, asking $180 million in damages for a similar patent infringement.

Vonage also settled with Klausner for an undisclosed sum for a patent license.

In the latest suit brought by Klausner Technologies, the company is asking $360 million from Apple and AT&T.

The law suit also claims that Skype, Comcast and Cablevision Systems have also infringed on its patents, in particular US Patents 5,572,576 and 5,283,818, according to Vnunet.com, a British technology Web site.

The question that needs to be asked here is, is it possible that Apple and AT&Ts legal departments were unaware of the Klausner patents and blindly used another company’s property?

I kind of doubt it. Which leads to the next question. If they did know of the Klausner patents why did they ignore them? What was to be gained?

Anyone out there with a good legal mind that might have an answer?