Apple Sued for Text Completion

Delaware firm Autotext Technologies has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against 23 major technology companies including Apple and IBM, regarding predictive word processing.

BetaNews reports that Autotext is suing the following companies: Apple, AT&T, Helio, Hewlett-Packard, HTC America, IBM, Kyocera, LG Electronics USA, Microsoft, Motorola, Nintendo of America, Nokia, Nuance Communications, Palm, Qualcomm, Research In Motion, Samsung America, Sanyo North America, Sony, Sony Ericsson, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, and Zi Corporation.

All companies listed in the lawsuit, Autotext alleges, are infringing on a "computer-based transcription" patent that was filed in 1994. The patent is loosely about predictive word processing, where a list of words is presented when a user begins to input letters, hence the Autotext nomenclature.


Most of the infringing devices are cellular handsets, but the non-phone instances are especially noteworthy. IBM's Lotus Notes, Qualcomm's Eudora 7.1 mail client, Mac's OS X 10.4 and Safari, Nuance's T9 system, and also Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PS3 all come into question in the suit.