As noted by AppleInsider, Apple countered a renewed legal challenge from VoIP-Pal, saying it doesn’t infringe on the patent-in-suit and attests the property's claim are invalid.
In a complaint lodged with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Apple seeks to obtain a declaratory judgment stating non-infringement of a call and data routing patent owned by VoIP-Pal.
On April 8, the non-practicing entity (ie, a “patent troll”) sued Apple for at least the third time, claiming FaceTime and iMessage/Messages infringe on a single patent covering call routing and handling. Filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, VoIP-Pal's suit hinges on a patent detailing methods of seamlessly integrating IP-based calls with external networks like a public switched telephone network (PTSN).
VoIP-Pal is a publicly traded corporation that acquired Digifonica International Limited in 2013 in order to fund, co-develop and complete Digifonica's suite of patents. Digifonica purportedly operationalized and tested its suite of software solutions with applications in five core areas of Internet connectivity: Routing, Billing and Rating; Lawful Intercept; Short Number Dialing (Enhanced 911) Mobile Gateway; and Uninterrupted Transmission.
By the way, a patent troll is an individual or an organization that purchases and holds patents for unscrupulous purposes such as stifling competition or launching patent infringement suits. In legal terms, a patent troll is a type of non-practicing entity: someone who holds a patent but is not involved in the design or manufacture of any product or process associated with that patent.
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