AfterDawn: News

University in Taiwan sues Apple over Siri-related patents

The National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan has filed a lawsuit against Apple, alleging that the mobile giant has infringed on two patents relating to speech recognition.

More specifically, the suit claims "all voice activated assistant capabilities otherwise known as Siri" infringe upon said patents.



Siri was introduced last year with iOS 5 for the iPhone 4S but will be added to the new Retina Display third-generation iPads later this year with the release of iOS 6.

The move seems to be a push back against Apple for its patent cases against Taiwanese manufacturer HTC. Apple's suit against HTC caused a two-week customs hold up for the One X and Evo 4G LTE, leading to some missed sales.

After Apple, the university says it will look into other manufacturer's recognition methods, calling Apple "an early step." This likely means Samsung may have to watch their back in the coming weeks.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 30 Jul 2012 16:05

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• 4 comments

• LordRuss

  Hell, wasn't the Google Speak thing around at the same time too? I'm surprised that hasn't been raked over the coals.
  
  Still, Apple settled over the iPud, why wouldn't this be just another case of keeping the little man too?
  
  Anyway, this is pretty typical of major corporations in general - to come in, give a supposed 'grant to a major university of one kind or another to do all this hardcore research & development for their next 'latest & greatest' only to have the university (most times) misappropriate the funds - woefully under finance the research & under the threat of the masters/doctoral students grades - get the project completed for basically no cost & 1/10th the time.
  
  Then 'the man' swoops in & claims fame for the project & reaps every ounce of the benefits incurred. EVERY university wants to come back around & sue for the what they think is their share of the rewards when even 'they' don't deserve shit.
  
  Once the damned educational institutions once again figure out they're in the business of higher learning & are not financial endeavors maybe then we can all start moving on toward flying cars & those glass towered utopias we all seem to want to pine for. Hypothetically speaking.
  

  http://onlyinrussellsworld.blogspot.com

  30.7.2012 18:03 #1

• Qliphah

  My god youre right. Of course the next step would be to include the prison systems into this somehow. Perhaps they could do the packaging and handling.

  1.8.2012 14:25 #2

• IguanaC64

  I don't disagree with you, LordRuss, but I'd like to add that these kinds of patents make me nervous. So you have a patent for a "voice activated assistant"...so no one in existence can make one without violating this broad range of products or paying another hand. I don't see how big companies can keep straight all the little hands that make your cell phone cost $700.
  
  These "idea" patents are driving the cost of products up and strangling innovation. I'd go so far as to say it's the reason America doesn't innovate as much as it used to...you're always in the shadow of some asshole who might have patented "duh" things like "vehicle with four wheels" or "method of steering a vehicle with a circular shaped input device".
  
  I still find it rich that Taiwan is suing a US company for patent infringement...

  4.8.2012 12:15 #3

• LordRuss

  Originally posted by IguanaC64: So you have a patent for a "voice activated assistant"...so no one in existence can make one without violating this broad range of products or paying another hand. I don't see how big companies can keep straight all the little hands that make your cell phone cost $700.
  
  These "idea" patents are driving the cost of products up and strangling innovation. I'd go so far as to say it's the reason America doesn't innovate as much as it used to... I'm in agreeance. It used to be that ONE guy owned the patent, but so long as EVERYONE shared the technology (i.e., used the EXACT same tech) then they could have it for free. If you deviated from it, then you got sued for infringement (of some such thing).
  
  This is what Philips did with their tech back in the day with a lot of their stuff. The cassette tape being one of the more recognizable (off the top of my pointed head).
  
  The whole reason was to keep the bullshit down with multitudes of "Industry Standards" trying to make their stand in the music industry. Or any industry to be honest.
  
  We saw some of what you were talking about come to fruition when the cassette tape started to die out & CDs starting to wain. Micro disks, MP3s, iTunes format. Betamax over VHS & then the ever present war over HD-DVD/Bluray.
  
  Consumer greed killed the HD-DVD in lieu of the Bluray because the amount of data that can be put on those disks. Little did the general consumer refuse to believe was that Sony controlled ALL recordable media & that purchasing said media was more cost prohibitive than outright buying whatever you were "backing up".
  
  That, and the mere fact Sony just flat out don't f*king share with nobody.
  
  So it seemed to me, in those days, innovation came from not only pushing new technology by making the product better, but by also who wanted to be the next in line for the bragging rights.
  
  Now it just seems that they all want to be the 1st annual asshole.
  

  http://onlyinrussellsworld.blogspot.com

  4.8.2012 14:12 #4