Vlingo, a Cambridge, MA-based provider of voice-to-text software, has taken a defensive move to help protect it against a lawsuit filed by speech software giant Nuance Communications, announcing a deal today with Intellectual Ventures that adds a slew of intellectual property to its arsenal.
Vlingo has purchased several patents from Bellevue, WA-based Intellectual Ventures that Nuance would need to license to continue shipping its products, Vlingo president & CEO Dave Grannan told me in a phone interview. Vlingo filed a lawsuit against Nuance last week regarding infringement over those particular patents, Grannan says. Additionally, Vlingo has enlisted in a program in which it gets non-exclusive rights to Intellectual Ventures’ portfolio of patents.
“By acquiring patents from Intellectual Ventures, we can even the playing field,” Grannan says.
Vlingo’s hope is that Nuance, which is suing the software startup for patent infringement, would be willing to drop the suit in exchange for a business settlement with the company, Grannan says. In such a settlement, each company would get access to the other’s patents. Grannan called that type of deal “a bit of a horse trade,” and said it would be more productive for both businesses than the litigation.
In June of 2008, Burlington, MA-based Nuance (NASDAQ: [[ticker:NUAN]]) alleged Vlingo had violated U.S. Patent No. 6,766,295, issued to Nuance engineers, which protects a technology for making voice-to-text software more accurate by sampling multiple audio clips, such as phone sessions. Nuance sought monetary damages and to prevent Vlingo from making, using, and selling the software.
“A lawsuit is a waste,” Grannan says. “It takes time and effort away from both of our companies to make good products.” He says the deal with Intellectual Ventures protects Vlingo as it continues to pursue its own patents, a process that can take four to six years. Vlingo has filed more than 30 patent applications, he says. “We’re very intent on getting our own patents awarded, that just takes time.”
A Nuance victory in the lawsuit could shut down Vlingo’s partnership deal with Yahoo, through which it powers the Internet giant’s oneSearch mobile search engine with its speech recognition technology. The deal was announced just two months before the Nuance lawsuit surfaced.
When news of the lawsuit first hit, Grannan told Wade that the lawsuit was Nuance’s response to not scoring the deal with Yahoo. Grannan reiterated
