Taiwanese university claims Apple’s Siri infringes its patents

A Taiwanese university has sued Apple for alleged patent infringement in its Siri voice assistant, as part of an initiative to help Taiwan's local electronic firms fight back against intellectual property disputes brought by their foreign rivals.

Taiwan's National Cheng Kung University alleged in the lawsuit, filed in a U.S. district court on Friday, that Apple's Siri feature infringes on two of the school's U.S. patents dealing with speech recognition technology. The university is demanding Apple pay a still undetermined amount in damages, and that the court order an injunction on Apple's use of Siri as a feature on its iPhones and iPads.

The school filed the legal action in response to repeated patent infringement lawsuits that foreign companies have filed against Taiwan's electronic firms, according to Chen Xisan, the director of the school's legal department. Apple has for example filed legal action against HTC, which recently saw shipments of its smartphones to the U.S. delayed because of the patent battles.

"We want to help the local industry," Chen said in an interview. "We also want to protect Taiwan's patents from being infringed upon."

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Read more...