Taiwan uni sues Apple over Siri patent

Summary: University files infringement suit against Cupertino in U.S. court over its Siri speech recognition system, seeks undisclosed damages.

By Ryan Huang | July 31, 2012 -- 10:30 GMT (03:30 PDT)

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Apple has gotten into another patent lawsuit, this time with a National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, which claims the Siri speech recognition system infringes two United States patents it was granted in 2007 and 2010 relating to voice-to-text technology.

The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, on Friday, according to Reuters newswire.

"We filed that lawsuit in the Texas court because it processes faster and its rulings are usually in favor of patent owners and the compensations are usually higher," said Yama Chen, legal manager of National Cheng Kung in the article Monday.

According to the report, he declined to disclose the amount of compensation being sought but said any calculation would be based on Apple's U.S. sales of devices that use Siri.

Chen added that the university was also examing whether smartphone voice recognition systems used by Google and Microsoft have also violated its patents.

The news comes amid Apple's onging legal spat with companies including Samsung, largely over the design of the iPhone and iPad. Both companies have claimed its patents have been infringed upon, with Apple seeking over $2.5 billion in damages.

Topics: Patents, Legal

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7 comments

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Interesting Development

I always though Nuance owns the patents which is then licensed to Apple?
Watch this space I must say...

cootified
31 July, 2012 06:20

Reply 1 Vote
Interesting Development

I always though Nuance owns the patents which is then licensed to Apple?
Watch this space I must say...

cootified
31 July, 2012 06:21

Reply Vote
The table has turned, I guess.

First, Proview. Now, a university. Apple has become the defendant yet again. Who is coming out next?
But I wonder if counter-suing would work in this case; does the university infringe on any Apple patent? If no, then university has nothing to lose.
On a lighter note, I can see where any $2.5b from Samsung is going. Samsung can even negotiate with the university directly to save a lot of hassle.
My own university has one or two patents too. I will give my VC a call to see what we can get from shaking the big Apple tree.

davidtayo
31 July, 2012 07:25

Reply 1 Vote
- University patents
  
  Wonder, how does an university hold patents. That is, most universities are publicly funded and in many countries publicly funded projects belong to the 'public domain' (varies).
  
  It seems that those lawsuits are opportunistic attempts to grab some money from the rich man.
  
  danbi
  31 July, 2012 15:12
  
  Reply Vote
  - Re: "It seems that those lawsuits are opportunistic attempts to grab some"
    
    Unless it's Apple doing the "grabbing", in which case it's "why are these companies shamelessly stealing intellectual property", right?
    
    ldo17
    1 August, 2012 03:36
    
    Reply 2 Votes
  - Perfectly reasonable
    
    when it's apple but you've decided anyone else trying to gain rightful rewards for IP should leave apple alone and not stoop to suing people?
    
    Sounds like another appleism to me!
    
    Little Old Man
    2 August, 2012 14:10
    
    Reply 1 Vote
Very telling

"We filed that lawsuit in the Texas court because it processes faster and its rulings are usually in favor of patent owners and the compensations are usually higher," said Yama Chen, legal manager of National Cheng Kung in the article Monday.

How much does that say about all the current patent wars! It's not just the US either, choose wisely where you apply for a court date in europe.

Little Old Man
2 August, 2012 14:27

Reply Vote