Patent suit alert: This time, Google and Verizon on the hot seat

Inventor Judah Klausner has settled with the best of them: AT&T, Apple, Comcast and eBay. Now, he's taking Google, Verizon, Cox and LG to court for infringing on his patents for visual voicemail technology.

A Reuters story highlights some of his past legal battles, including a June settlement with Apple over the iPhone's voicemail feature. Klausner, in a suit filed by his patent holding company Klausner Technologies Inc., claims that he began receiving patents in various countries as early as 1992 for the technology, which gives users a visual/graphical interface to manage voicemal messages, similar to the way email is managed.

Google didn't comment on the suit but Verizon sent a statement, via email, to CNET that read:  "We anticipated Klausner's action. We filed a declaratory judgment action in New York federal court on August 13. We are seeking a declaration that Klausner's visual voice mail patent is invalid and that Verizon's system does not infringe the patent in any event."

The summer months have been littered with patent lawsuits among technology companies.

• Last week, Graph On sued Google, alleging infringement of four patents that protect Graph On's “unique method of maintaining an automated and network-accessible database.”
• The week before, Cary A. Jardin sued DATallegro, a company founded by his former boss and currently being acquired by Microsoft. Jardin clams infringement of a patented database technology.
• Last month, Gotuit Media sued Microsoft over Silverlight, the video technology that powered the online Olympics Games coverage. The suit alleges that Silverlight infringes on Gotuit patents that allow “for the enhancement, personalization and monetization of video and other media.”

And to think, there's still a few more weeks left of summer.