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Apple settles patent suit over iPhone visual voice mail

Klausner Technologies can now count Apple and AT&T as licensees of its technology after convincing them to settle a patent-infringement lawsuit filed last year over the iPhone.

Tom Krazit Former Staff writer, CNET News
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Google, as the most prominent company on the Internet defends its search juggernaut while expanding into nearly anything it thinks possible. He has previously written about Apple, the traditional PC industry, and chip companies. E-mail Tom.
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Tom Krazit
Apple has been forced to pay up to use the iPhone's visual voice mail feature. CNET Networks

Apple has settled a patent-infringement lawsuit over the visual voice mail system used in the iPhoneby signing a license for the technology in question.

Klausner Technologies sued Apple and AT&T last December over the visual voice mail feature inside the iPhone, which lets you select and listen to voice mail from a list of messages, just like an e-mail in-box. Reuters reports that Apple, AT&T, and eBay are all now licensees to Klausner's technology, although financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

AOL and Vonage had already signed deals with Klausner before it came after Apple and AT&T, so there was a pretty good chance it would have eventually prevailed if the case had come to trial. Reuters said Klausner's next targets are Comcast and Cablevision.