According to the latest reports, the patent-holding company Parus Holdings filed a lawsuit last week, claiming that Apple’s Siri voice assistant infringed its patents related to the Internet search method of voice devices.
Parus filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. It used two patents related to a powerful and highly reliable system that uses voice devices to search the web. Siri is accused of infringing on these technologies.
Specifically, the lawsuit claims infringement of US patents 672.1705 and 818.5402, both of which are entitled Robust voice browser system and voice-activated device controller. Webley Systems filed the 705 patent in 2001 and was subsequently approved in 2004. The intellectual property rights related to the 402 patent can be traced back to 2001. Parus controlled these patients in 2004.
The 705 and 402 patents specify methods for accessing web pages and online information through a maintained database and sorting these data so that they can be displayed to users via wired or wireless mobile phones. The search is performed through natural voice commands received by the system, and it can also be converted into data information for processing. The embodiment also describes the use of voice commands to browse the website.
Interestingly, the key requirements in the 705 patent outline systems for controlling household devices such as security cameras, lighting, and televisions through sound. These claims did not take immediate action. The complaint claims that when IP was invented, mobile devices were still in their infancy. Due to limited processing, connectivity, and web design capabilities, the inventor’s Alexander Kurganov and Valery Zhukoff developed a novel method to detect modifications to the website and adapt to such changes, so as to quickly and accurately provide the requested information by the user. The voice device is activated.
The plaintiff claimed that the operation of Apple Siri is similar to the design detailed in the lever-type IP. Voice assistants allow users to interact through voice commands, query website databases, return top-ranking numbers and convert their response data into user audio information. In addition, Siri also relies on web crawlers like Applebot, Bing, and Google to vote on various websites. Parus lists all devices that support Siri-from iPhone to Mac and HomePod-as infringing tools. The plaintiff requested damages and litigation costs in the litigation.
