Apple Faces Patent Infringement Suit Over Siri

Apple was hit with a patent infringement lawsuit (read it below) over Siri, the Cupertino, California company’s computer voice search-and-speak technology inside newer iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices. The twist in this case, however, is that patent holder Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute isn’t the one suing.

Instead, the plaintiff is Dynamic Advances, LLC, a Tyler, Texas-based company created last year by patent monetizer Erich Spangenberg. The LLC’smembers and officers include the Spangenberg Family Foundation and Techdev Holdings.

Spangenberg is known for his ‘sue first, ask questions later’ approach to patent litigation.

A lawsuit filed Friday in a New York federal court confirms that Dynamic Advances, LLC is a non-practicing entity (NPE) allegedly holding an exclusive license to sue, enforce, and monetize Rennselaer’s patent portfolio:

Dynamic Advances facilitates Rennselaer’s goal of commercializing its patented inventions to the benefit of the general public, and to further Rennselaer’s mission to apply science to the common purposes of life.

Pleadings in the case docket do not currently include a copy of any alleged exclusive patent license agreement between Rennselaer and Dynamic Advances.

The patent at issue is U.S. Patent No. 7,177,798 for a “Natural language interface using constrained intermediate dictionary of results.” The USPTO awarded the patent in 2007.

Apple filed a 100-page patent application over Siri for an “Intelligent Automated Assistant” on January 10, 2011. Apple’s Siri patent application (No. 12/987,982) still appears to be pending.

It does not appear that Google, or any other mobile device or OS maker, was sued by Dynamic Advances, LLC over their voice applications as well. The Siri lawsuit appears to be the only one currently in the company’s federal docket. Perhaps another company may be next in line, or possibly they negotiated a license for the patent. Alternatively, Rennselaer’s facilitator may have chosen simply not to sue.

Read the new patent infringement lawsuit filed against Apple over Siri here:

Complaint (Dynamic Advances, LLC v. Apple, Inc.

Image credit: Javier Brosch via Shutterstock

Via: Justia