AOL is facing a $200m lawsuit for alleged patent infringement. Inventor Judah Klausner claims the internet giant's voice services platform - which includes AOL Voicemail, AOL Call Alert, AOL by Phone and AOL VOIP Internet Phone Service - infringes his company's US Patent, number 5,572,576.

Klausner's company - Klausner Technologies - owns more than 20 patents worldwide that enable the remote retrieval of voice messages via the net or wireless network using a visual display.

According to the suit filed by California law firm of Dovel & Luner in a federal court in Virginia, AOL violated Klausner's intellectual property rights because AOL's punters can be notified visually of new voice messages and can retrieve voice messages using their displays.

Said Greg Dovel, a lawyer acting on behalf of Klausner: "Because of the fast-paced docket in the Eastern District of Virginia, we expect a quick resolution of the matter and the prompt issuance of an injunction that will stop AOL from using this patented technology."

No one at AOL was available for comment at the time of writing. However, a spokesman for the Time Warner company has been quoted as saying that it will "consider [its] legal options" once it has had a chance to examine the details of the lawsuit. ®

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