Who doesn’t love patent trolls who exist for the sole purpose of suing companies for an alleged slight on some patent that they have no intention of using? This time, Accredited Transcription Corp (ATC), the company in question, is coming after Google’s Voice Recognition and Apple’s Siri in regards to US patent 6,298,326.

The patent in question mentions technology where a user speaks into a device and the sound is transmitted to a central data facility where it are converted to text and sent back to a user. They claim that they are happy to work with companies using the technology. By “work with” they of course mean collect royalties from.

ATC also believes that Samsung’s S-Voice Assistant is in violation of the patent. They are sending cease and desist letters to Apple, Google and other technology companies. They are looking for them to license the technology, pay royalties or stop using the technology altogether.

ATC is willing to litigate if it becomes necessary. In a statement ATC said, “ATC believes that these procedures clearly infringe on the patent and that those who misuse its technology must either license it, pay royalties, or cease using the products. If royalties cannot be achieved through negotiations, ATC will initiate litigation and seek injunctions against those who infringe on the patent.”

[via Techcrunch]

8 COMMENTS

  1. Maybe I am reading the patent wrong:

    http://www.patents.com/us-6298326.html

    BUT, it looks like its requiring a human transcriptionist.

    e) a means to telephonically transmit the digital representation of said voice dictation to a transcription station, the transcription station comprising at least one human transcriptionist therein;

    So, it sounds like to me that Human Being A is talking into a computer device, then it transmits to Human Being B (the transcriptionist), who translates the spoken text into a computer voice, then is sent back to Human Being A. Perhaps I am reading it in a literal way. But, isn’t SIRI, S-Voice, Google NOW all handled by computers? I mean, you don’t have a human being on the other end translating every word from every one around the world into a computer voice then sent back to that human.

    Maybe I am an idiot. LOL! Anyway, this seems like a petty disagreement. I mean, it was patented in 1999. Google, Android, & Apple have been doing voice recognition for a while now, and suddenly ATC wants to join the patent-infringement war? C’mon! Give us a break! You should have gone after Apple back in 2007 when the iPhone first showed up.

  2. Maybe I am reading the patent wrong:

    http://www.patents.com/us-6298326.html

    BUT, it looks like its requiring a human transcriptionist.

    e) a means to telephonically transmit the digital representation of said voice dictation to a transcription station, the transcription station comprising at least one human transcriptionist therein;

    So, it sounds like to me that Human Being A is talking into a computer device, then it transmits to Human Being B (the transcriptionist), who translates the spoken text into a computer voice, then is sent back to Human Being A. Perhaps I am reading it in a literal way. But, isn’t SIRI, S-Voice, Google NOW all handled by computers? I mean, you don’t have a human being on the other end translating every word from every one around the world into a computer voice then sent back to that human.

    Maybe I am an idiot. LOL! Anyway, this seems like a petty disagreement. I mean, it was patented in 1999. Google, Android, & Apple have been doing voice recognition for a while now, and suddenly ATC wants to join the patent-infringement war? C’mon! Give us a break! You should have gone after Apple back in 2007 when the iPhone first showed up.

  3. Voice to text for Android 4.1 is built in to the OS so technically they are safe there right? Cute how this company is going after the two biggest tech companies today, good luck getting away unscathed ATC

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