iPhone’s Visual Voicemail Could Be Target Of New Lawsuit
The Visual Voicemail software on the new iPhone could be the target of a new lawsuit against Apple, Inc. The innovative visual voicemail system displays the caller information of all messages. The user can then play back any one of the messages in the order they choose without having to listen to the messages in the sequential order that they were received.
However, it appears Citrix, a concern from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, has a Visual Voicemail software application that came nicely packaged with Net6, a company it acquired in 2004. Citrix’s website specifically states: “Visual Voicemail enables Call Pilot voicemail users to have a visual indication of the number of voice mail messages in the mailbox, the senders of these voice mail messages, the time of the voice mail message, and the length of the voice mails…Visual Voicemail enables users to take a quick glance at their list of voice mail messages to check for important ones – without having to listen to all their messages.” Sounds exactly like Apple’s Visual Voicemail to us!
Interestingly enough, Citrix has licensed their Visual Voicemail system to Cisco. The application allows customers to use Visual Voicemail on Cisco’s “iPhone” IP devices. Cisco filed a trademark infringement against Apple, Inc. this week over the iPhone name. It is not known if Citrix has licensed the Visual Voicemail software to Apple. Calls to Citrix and Apple regarding this matter went unanswered.
