China Daily, August 8, 2012
Within weeks of Apple settling a high-profile dispute over its iPad trademark, the US tech
giant now faces at least two lawsuits in Taiwan.
The plaintiff, identified only as Lee, claims technology used in the video-calling application violates
his patent.
A spokesman for Zhenjiang Intermediate People's Court in Jiangsu province on Tuesday confirmed
it has accepted the case.
The suit calls for Apple to cease the violation but does not specify compensation, said a publicity
official at the court who gave her name only as Shen.
According to the indictment, Lee claims authorities on the mainland granted his utility model patent
on "voice network personal digital assistant" technology on April 28, 2004, with a valid period of 10
years, Yangtze Evening News reported.
The indictment said his patent includes a wireless communication module, a flash memory that stores
codes of network voice service, as well as a personal digital assistant that connects the communication
module and memory technologies very similar to those used by FaceTime.
FaceTime, which was released by Apple in 2010, is available on the company's iPad, iPhone, iPod touch,
iMac and MacBook.
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=Facetime.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/Facetime.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Meanwhile, a Taiwanese university has sued Apple for alleged patent infringement in its Siri voice
assistant, as part of an initiative to help Taiwan's local electronic firms fight back against intellectual
property disputes brought by their foreign rivals.
Taiwan's National Cheng Kung University alleged in the lawsuit, filed in a U.S. district court on Friday,
that Apple's Siri feature infringes on two of the school's U.S. patents dealing with speech recognition
technology. The university is demanding Apple pay a still undetermined amount in damages, and that
the court order an injunction on Apple's use of Siri as a feature on its iPhones and iPads.
Within weeks of Apple settling a high-profile dispute over its iPad trademark, the US tech
giant now faces at least two lawsuits in Taiwan.
The plaintiff, identified only as Lee, claims technology used in the video-calling application violates
his patent.
A spokesman for Zhenjiang Intermediate People's Court in Jiangsu province on Tuesday confirmed
it has accepted the case.
The suit calls for Apple to cease the violation but does not specify compensation, said a publicity
official at the court who gave her name only as Shen.
According to the indictment, Lee claims authorities on the mainland granted his utility model patent
on "voice network personal digital assistant" technology on April 28, 2004, with a valid period of 10
years, Yangtze Evening News reported.
The indictment said his patent includes a wireless communication module, a flash memory that stores
codes of network voice service, as well as a personal digital assistant that connects the communication
module and memory technologies very similar to those used by FaceTime.
FaceTime, which was released by Apple in 2010, is available on the company's iPad, iPhone, iPod touch,
iMac and MacBook.
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=Facetime.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/Facetime.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Meanwhile, a Taiwanese university has sued Apple for alleged patent infringement in its Siri voice
assistant, as part of an initiative to help Taiwan's local electronic firms fight back against intellectual
property disputes brought by their foreign rivals.
Taiwan's National Cheng Kung University alleged in the lawsuit, filed in a U.S. district court on Friday,
that Apple's Siri feature infringes on two of the school's U.S. patents dealing with speech recognition
technology. The university is demanding Apple pay a still undetermined amount in damages, and that
the court order an injunction on Apple's use of Siri as a feature on its iPhones and iPads.
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