A firm called Klausner Technologies has just announced that they are suing both Apple and AT&T for patent infringement over the iPhone’s “visual voicemail” feature. Klausner Technologies has already sued VOIP provider Vonage and AOL/Time Warner for the same darn thing, and both companies chose to settle and license the technology from Klausner.

Klausner is estimating damages and future royalties from AT&T and Apple at $360 million. From the press release:

Klausner Technologies was founded by Judah Klausner, the inventor of the PDA and electronic organizer. Apple’s original groundbreaking PDA, the Newton, was, in fact, covered under an OEM patent license granted by Judah Klausner over twenty years ago under his landmark US Patent 4,117,542.

The iPhone violates Klausner’s intellectual property rights by allowing users to selectively retrieve voice messages via the iPhone’s inbox display. Apple has called iPhone’s Visual Voicemail “one of the greatest advances in the history of mankind … without question.”

Yeah. The development of agriculture, the eradication of smallpox and visual voicemail. Those are the big three.

Apple Inc. Sued for Patent Infringement on iPhone by Klausner Technologies, Inc. (Press Release) [Yahoo!]

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