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NEW YORK –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 03, ‘07 — Klausner Technologies announced today that it has filed patent lawsuits under its visual voicemail patents against Comcast, Cablevision and eBay’s Skype with damages and future royalties estimated at $300 million.

The lawsuit asserts that the above companies’ VOIP voicemail products and services infringe Klausner Technologies’ U.S. Patent 5,572,576. The patent has already been licensed to various other companies which provide the same visual voice messaging services, including Time Warner’s AOL for its AOL Voicemail services, Vonage Holdings for its Vonage Voicemail Plus services as well as others, under the Klausner Patents.

Cablevision’s Optimum Voicemail, Comcast’s Digital Voice Voicemail and eBay’s Skype Voicemail each violate Klausner’s intellectual property rights by allowing users to selectively retrieve and listen to voice messages via message inbox displays.

Against Apple:
Klausner Technologies also announced today that it has filed a patent lawsuit under its visual voicemail patents against Apple on the iPhone, with damages and future royalties estimated at $360 million.

The lawsuit asserts that Apple’s iPhone Visual Voicemail infringes Klausner Technologies’ U.S. Patents 5,572,576 and 5,283,818.
Klausner Technologies was founded by Judah Klausner, the inventor of the PDA and electronic organizer. Apple’s original groundbreaking PDA, the Newton, was, in fact, covered under an OEM patent license granted by Judah Klausner over twenty years ago under his landmark US Patent 4,117,542.

The iPhone violates Klausner’s intellectual property rights by allowing users to selectively retrieve voice messages via the iPhone’s inbox display. Apple has called iPhone’s Visual Voicemail “one of the greatest advances in the history of mankind … without question.”

Against AT&T:
Klausner Technologies further announced today that it has filed a patent lawsuit under its visual voicemail patents against AT&T for selling the Apple iPhone, its Visual Voicemail service and other visual voice messaging services, with damages and future royalties estimated at $360 million.

The lawsuit asserts that sales of Apple’s iPhone, Visual Voicemail and other visual voice messaging services implemented by AT&T infringe Klausner Technologies’ U.S. Patents 5,572,576 and 5,283,818.

All three suits have been filed by the California law firm of Dovel & Luner in a federal court in the Eastern District of Texas.

Callpod is now accepting pre-order for its soon to be shipped, new Dragon Bluetooth headset, which has 100-Meter / 328+ ft range. Additionally you can also connect the headset with your PC for Skype calls simultaneously, allowing you to switch between your PC and mobile phone with a press of a button.

The headset also features Dual-microphone background noise cancellation and Multi-device pairing with auto-switching. You can pre-order one for $129.95 at Callpod.

LONDON, October 29/PRNewswire/ — Skype, the global Internet communications company and 3, the UK mobile operator, have launched a new affordable handset that lets you make free Skype to Skype calls and send free Skype instant messages from your mobile phone to other Skype users no matter where they are. 

The 3 Skypephone is a fully-featured 3G Internet phone with Skype built-in. In addition to Skype calls the phone makes conventional calls and can be used to access 3’s broad range of other internet services.  

3 customers using the 3 Skypephone will be able to make Skype calls and send instant messages on the move with the push of a button. This is the first time an operator has offered a mass market device which is tailor-made for free calling over the internet from a mobile. Now, all of Skype’s 246 million registered can be reached for free with the 3 Skypephone.  

The handset was developed by Skype and 3 in partnership with Qualcomm, using Qualcomm’s BREW platform to enable Skype to work with core handset features such as address book and messaging.  

The 3 Skypephone will be available this year in the UK, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Macau and Sweden. Skype to Skype calls will always be free from your 3 Skypephone as long as you are on contract or your PAYG 3 credit is topped up monthly. In the UK, the 3 Skypephone is GBP49.99 on a PAYG tariff or free on a contract.(i)  

The 3 Skypephone is available from 2 November in 3Stores across the UK and from Skype and 3’s websites in time for Christmas. The 3 Skypephone is available for pre-order in the UK from today. 

3 Skypephone functionality: With 3G, a 2-megapixel camera, mp3 player, mobile TV and internet, 3 Skypephone keeps you occupied even when you run out of things to say. Plus, it’s small and shiny, and comes in black or white, with blue or pink trim. 3 Skypephone also includes: 

- Fully integrated Skype functionality with contacts, call logs and presence.
- Access to Java and 3D games and two preloaded games
- 2.0 Megapixel camera, Internet browsing, Bluetooth
- Size: 100×44x13.6mm, Weight: 86g
- Battery Standby: 320 Hours, Talk Time: 270 Min, Video Talk Time: 170 Min
- Screen Size: 2.0″ QCIF (176 x 220), Colour: 262K
- Internal Memory: 16MB, External: expandable to 1GB microSD
More at Skype

Social network website MySpace has joined forces with internet phone firm Skype to allow MySpace users to make calls to each other.
With the service, which starts from the end of November, the two firms say they are creating the world’s largest online, voice-connected community.

MySpace users will be able to place free internet calls to other people on MySpace, or to Skype users. In addition, MySpace users will be able to pay to call landlines and mobiles.

‘Natural step’: The Skype option will be added to MySpace’s existing instant messaging feature, and will not require MySpace users to download any additional Skype software. “Internet calling is the natural next step for how our members communicate with each other,” said MySpace chief executive Chris DeWolfe.

No financial terms of the arrangement have been released. MySpace has more than 110 million users, while Skype has 220 million.

EBay Inc’s Skype is working with British mobile phone service operator 3 to produce a handset that will allow users in Britain to make free calls on the Internet, a spokesman for the company said on Friday. Reuters further reports, “A spokesman for 3 confirmed that the group was working to make Internet calls mobile but would not confirm any further details or who it was working with. The phone is expected to work in the normal way but to include a Skype function to contact other Skype customers.Skype uses an Internet connection to place a voice call, cutting out the telephony network for which telecoms operators charge by the minute. Skype calls to other broadband-connected Skype users are free. The Skype spokesman did not give any further details but said the phone would be out later this year.”

More at Reuters