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#title: From AllVoice to AllPatent: Milking the Speech Recognition Business
with Parliamentary Support

#descr: Allvoice Computing PLC, originally a text-processor service company
based in Devon, UK, has obtained two broad and trivial patents in US
and UK on the logics of interfacing between speech recognition and
word processing.  Allvoice tried to sell this interface as a
standalone software product, but was apparently more successful in
extracting rents from producers of full-fledged speech recognition
software, such as IBM and Lernout & Hauspie, by means of patent
litigation.  Meanwhile Allvoice's business seems to be focussing on
patent enforcement.  Allvoice's director John Mitchell has also become
a patent-political activist and an archetype of a business model which
british parliamentarians are promoting in UK and EU.

#ata: Patent Claims

#omn: Comments

#osr: Lernout & Hauspie Bankruptcy

#ecn: In November 2002, AllVoice attacked the new owner of %(q:Naturally
Speaking), ScanSoft, again in a US court.  To date, AllVoice has
asserted its patents only in US courts, even when the infringers were
European companies such as Lernout & Hauspie (L&H).  During the UK
software patent consultation in 2000, Allvoice director John Mitchell
%(up:explained) that patent enforcement in UK is difficult due to
misunderstandings about lack of patentability of software and other
traditional obstacles.

#nWr: In public statements, AllVoice has pretended to be a producer of voice
recognition software.  They are not.  They are a consulting firm which
wrote a small interface managment program and is now using interface
patents to extract rents from those who write real voice recognition
software.

#fat: The director of AllVoice, John Mitchell, has taken an active role in
the patent-political process in UK.

#foW: While AllVoice was fighting L&H, they got a motion of support for
their patents and their fight put down by MPs in the UK parliament.

#hsi: Since then Mitchell has appeared on Patent Office panels and
discussions when they have wanted an archetypal %(q:little guy who won
through).

#ola: Mitchell is also involved in a scheme for state subsidized patent
litigation which is being promoted by UK patent activists in the EU.

#uhW: Allvoice's home town Devon is an unemployment blackspot, and the
description of them as a tiny company in speech-recognition in an
unemployment blackspot who were saved by their patents and have now
licensed their technology is bang on.

#tsh: In the context of the discussions about the proposed Software Patent
Directive in the European Parliament in 2002/03, the rapporteur Arlene
McCarthy MEP (UK Labour), who is closely cooperating with the
pro-patent forces in the UK government, has repeatedly referred
Allvoice as a model case which demonstrates that %(q:the small
patently needs protection).  This was also written into her
%(em:report to the European Parliament):

#let: Nobody in Europe can have any interest in seeing the destruction of
small European software developers. On the contrary, large
corporations are often dependent upon the innovativeness of small
businesses and patents allow them to turn their creativity to good
account, as witness the world-wide non-exclusive licence recently
granted to a US multinational by a ten-person company located in an
employment blackspot in south-west England in respect of all of their
voice-recognition software patents.

#ao3: Claim 1 of GB2302199

#cWW: Data processing apparatus comprising %(ul|input means for receiving
recognition data and corresponding audio data from a speech
recognition engine, said recognition data including a string of
recognised characters and audio identifiers identifying audio
components corresponding to a character component of the recognised
characters;|storage means for storing said audio data received from
said input means;|processing means for receiving and processing the
input recognised characters to replace, insert and/or move characters
in the recognised characters and/or to position the recognised
characters;|link means for forming link data linking the audio
identifiers to the character component positions in the character
string even after processing;|display means for displaying the
characters being processed by the said processing means;|user operable
selection means for selecting characters in the displayed characters
for audio playback, where said link data identifies any selected audio
components, if present, which are linked to the selected characters;
and|audio playback means for playing back the selected audio
components in the order of the character component positions in the
character string.)

#sng: This claim scope was only slightly narrowed during examination and
litigation, as can be seen in the %(up:original patent description)
(111 pages PDF graphics from espacenet.com database).

#ao32: Claim 1 of GB2303955

#naa: A data processing apparatus comprising:%(ul|input means for receiving
recognition data and corresponding audio data from a speech
recognition engine, said recognition data including a string of
recognised characters and audio identifiers identifying audio
components corresponding to character components of the recognised
characters;|link means for forming link data linking the audio
identifiers to the character component positions in the character
string;|storage means for storing said audio data received from said
input means said link data, and said characters; and|display means for
displaying the recognised characters; and|an editor work station
comprising data reading means for obtaining the characters, link data,
and audio data from said data processing apparatus;|editor processing
means for processing the characters;|editor link means for linking the
audio data to the character component position using the link
data;|editor display means for displaying the characters being
processed;|editor correction means for selecting and correcting any
displayed characters which have been incorrectly recognised;|editor
audio playback means for playing back any audio component
corresponding to the selected characters to aid correction;|editor
speech recognition update means for storing the corrected characters
and the audio identifier for the audio component corresponding to the
corrected character in a character correction file; and|data transfer
means for transferring the character correction file to said data
processing apparatus for later updating of models used by said speech
recognition engine;|said data processing apparatus including
correction file reading means for reading said character correction
file to pass the data contained therein to said speech recognition
engine for later updating of models used thereby.)

#WWr: %(XD) comments on the Allvoice business model:

#ora: The Allvoice example illustrates two typical patent myths:

#arW: SME can benefit from software patents

#aml: In fact to benefit in software patents means to behave as a %(q:patent
parasite) that does not get money from the solutions it contributes
-WordExpress- but from the obstacles it legally imposes on others to
solve useful problems.

#Whd: Having software patents in the US and not having them in the EU is a
competitive disadvantage for the EU.

#oyU: In fact AllVoice has taken advantage of the fact the US market is
vulnerable to software patents and the EU not (so much), by attacking
US companies from UK. So the situation is a competitive advantage for
the EU, at least from an inmoral business point of view.

#ahh: After a quick read of the 2 claims below I can hardly see the
difference between the 2 patents, one should be prior art for the
other, and any is as worthy of monopoly as the notion of proofreading
with a karaoke.

#Wnn: You can say that implementing these claims may really be a worthwhile
task, perfectly covered by copyright on the code, while just
publishing the idea of using a multimedia computer for storing written
and oral text together to allow human proofreading of automated speech
recognition is no contribution at all, and certainly not worth the
power to stop anyone from using their multimedia computers in such a
way. Everybody knows computers can do this, the meat is getting them
to do it (the code, the part copytright covers).

#aho: These poor little companies so successful thanks to the patent system
are as worthy of praise as the Lazarillo de Tormes (the character, not
the anonymous ancient Spanish novel). They are the typical opportunist
geniuses that find a great way of making money without any work to
earn it (or besides anything else they do worthy of earning money
with). And then people start to worship those smart guys and you get a
whole society of lazy people trying to emulate them by competing in
bribery instead of productivity.  It should be a concern of economic
policy to let people have a honest way of living, rather than to
degrade the market to mere %(pi:picaresque).

#Woo: Lernout & Hauspie went bankrupt during litigation with Allvoice, but
this litigation was probably not more than a nail in their coffin. 
The following links contain details about the bankruptcy and
associated scandals:

#aAa: Report about outcome of AllVoice lawsuit against L&H.  Apparently
based on Allvoice PR only.

#mbi: Quotes collected by Greg Aharonian.  Through newspaper articles in the
Independent and the Financial Times, Patrick Nicholls, Tory MP of
Devon, spreads the myth of the small man asserting his intellectual
property against big business with help of patents. AllVoice is
presented as an inventor of some great new %(q:speech recognition
technology) who had his product copied by large companies.  %(q:The
way US business has rallied round to destroy Allvoice would make a
pack of sharks look like a group of nuns,) Nicholls is reported as
saying.

#fnU: Complains that software patents are difficult to enforce in UK and EU,
situation is much better in US, offers advice to UKPO: %(orig|My
company has 4 patents that have been implemented by software. We are
currently in litigation in the US against US corporations who have
chosen quite deliberately to ignore our patents. Our case has been
raised in Parliament %(tp|twice|so far) - further debates seem highly
likely in the near future. We understand that are situations may
shortly be the main theme of a full scale %(q:Panorama) style TV
documentary.|I personally have found that the vast majority of lawyers
and a large proportion of UK patent attorneys do not understand
patenting once software is involved. Some of the debate I have seen so
far continues to display this ignorance eg software protection is
already covered by copyright.|...|Hardly anyone seems to have
practical experience of enforcement ...|Having to pay a patent office
to process an application and have it checked for prior art, validity
etc taking many months or years is pointless if the Courts are allowed
to challenge each and every patent examiners' decisions - irrespective
of fact. It becomes even more of a hurdle when high tech is involved
where speed is of the essence.|I would be delighted to offer my
practical and valuable expertise to the debate. ...)

#fto: Cites Mitchell's plans for %(q:Patent Defence Union) as an example of
how patents are prompting anti-competitive behavior among companies
rather than innovation:%(orig|The inventor John Mitchell, managing
director of AllVoice Computing plc, told the audience at 'Intellectual
Property Enforcement' about the urgent need to 'cure the loss of
intellectual property'. He cited a recent European Commission funded
report, in which William Kingston proposed the creation of a 'Patent
Defence Union' - 'an EU-wide voluntary grouping of SME patentees to
defend their patents'.  This safety-in-numbers mentality is also
expressed in the phenomenon of cross-licensing, in which businesses
share the licences for their patented inventions with other
businesses. Here, again, patents cease to be a spur to innovation, and
become a bargaining chip between the cautious.)

#ele: Mitchell promotes his project to the IPRTalk forum.  The website also
features an article about the Danish Patent Office's %(q:Patent
Insurance) scheme, which is a very similar project.

#lsW: Mitchell presented his story at a conference in the UK Patent Office
on 24th September 2002.  The conference schedule presents him as the
archetype of the %(q:real inventor) who owes his success to the patent
system: %(orig|John Mitchell is Managing Director of AllVoice
Computing plc and an inventor on the companys UK and US patents.  He
has international experience in IP enforcement including US patent
litigation and a formal complaint to the EC Competition Commission.
Having had to explore the various enforcement options open to an SME
in different jurisdictions, he instigated the current Private Members
Bill that seeks to award additional damages for blatant UK patent
infringement. John is committed to establishing a %(tp|Patents Defence
Union|PDU) in order to encourage Britains real innovators.)

#Wps: mentions how Lernout was assailed by Allvoice after filing bankruptcy,
uncritically echoes Allvoice's propaganda that they too make voice
recognition software:%(orig|Reuters reports that AllVoice Computing
may seek a preliminary injunction to stop L&H from selling a voice
recognition software product, NaturallySpeaking, which accounts for
$50 million in annual revenue. AllVoice makes a similar software.|A
bankruptcy court judge earlier had stayed AllVoice's two patent
infringement lawsuits in Massachusetts, one in a U.S. district court
and another in the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Reuters
reports.)

#frn: Slightly more exact news, although not free from myth that AllVoice is
a %(q:speech recognition systems developper): %(orig|ALLVOICE SEEKS TO
KEEP THE DRAGON AT BAY|At the end of last week UK speech recognition
systems developer AllVoice Computing applied to the US Court of
Appeals for the Federal Circuit for preliminary injunctions preventing
Dragon Systems from %(q:further releasing, marketing, distributing or
offering for sale its latest - and soon to be widely distributed -
version 5.0 of Dragon NaturallySpeaking software) containing playback
features allegedly protected by an AllVoice US patent.|The patent in
question relates to an %(q:Automated Proofreading Using Interface
Linking Recognized Words To Their Audio Data While Text Is Being
Changed) that was issued to AllVoice in August 1998. In a separate
dispute, AllVoice is also pursuing legal action against IBM over
alleged infringement of AllVoice intellectual property rights in
versions of IBM's speech recognition software.)

#tWf: Innovation Exeter, part of a regional development council for
Southwestern England, exhibits Allvoice as an example of successful
innovation in the Southwest, uncritically reproducing rhetoric from
Allvoice.

#pgd: reports about the parliamentary bill asking for punitive damages in
case of patent infringement, inspired by the Allvoice example.

#oan: The standard story: Tiny Devon-based company gains 400,000 pounds in
damages from big bully:%(orig|A tiny Devon-based software company has
received settlement of a two-year-old patent claim against a former
speech technology giant. AllVoice said it finally won its claim
against Lernout & Hauspie, once the world's leading speech technology
company and now bankrupt, for about £400,000 ($575,959). The British
company alleged that the larger rival had stolen some of its
technology, which helps computers to recognise human speech, and used
it in several products.)

#eWI: Reports that the AllVoice-inspired punitive damages bill is meeting
resistance from an IP lobby organisation.

#cal: ScanSoft Inc reports about its fight against meritless patent claims
by AllVoice: %(orig|On November 27, 2002, AllVoice Computing plc filed
an action against us in the United States District Court for the
Southern District of Texas claiming patent infringement. In the
lawsuit, AllVoice alleges that we are infringing %(tp|United States
Patent No. 5,799,273 entitled %(q:Automated Proofreading Using
Interface Linking Recognized Words to Their Audio Data While Text Is
Being Changed)|the %(q:'273 Patent)). The '273 Patent generally
discloses techniques for manipulating audio data associated with text
generated by a speech recognition engine. Although we have several
products in the speech recognition technology field, we believe that
these products do not infringe the '273 Patent because our products do
not use the claimed techniques. We believe this claim has no merit,
and we intend to defend the action vigorously.)

#WWe: The Draft Punitive Damages Bill, inspired by AllVoice, version of
2001.  Actually contains only a statement of intention and an
extensive textbook on the blessings of %(q:intellectual property) but
not the bill itself, it seems.

#teW: Patent Defence Union

#sag: John Mitchell, CEO of AllVoice, is also the president of the PDU, a
would-be government-funded association for helping %(q:innovative
companies) like Allvoice.co.uk to extract patent licenses and punitive
damages from infringers of their patents and to avoid having them
challenged in court.  AllVoice, as of 2003/08/10, was actively
promoting the PDU on its home page.

#svW: Explains the history of the company, misleading the naive reader into
believing that they are really experts in the development of voice
recognition software, gives some interesting details.  AllVoice was
created in 1992 as a division of AllTypes, a wordprocessing service
firm. %(orig|AllVoice was founded in 1980 by John & Teresa Mitchell as
Alltypes, a specialist word processing services firm.  The business
developed a strong customer base over the years with personal
computers as they replaced dedicated word-processing systems.|As more
and more computers were introduced into the workplace, the ways that
people interacted with them became increasing important. Realising the
potential for voice recognition systems, a specialist speech division,
AllVoice, was created in 1992.|Dragon Systems Inc. appointed AllVoice
as their %(tp|first UK business partner|and first computer reseller
world-wide) and AllVoice developed %(tp|user-oriented software to
complement the available technology|AllVoice Assistant & Assistant
Plus).  Providing comprehensive installation, training and support
services, AllVoice built up an impressive portfolio of customers and
the business was renamed AllVoice Computing plc to reflect the
increasing importance of speech technology to the company.|When IBM
entered the speech recognition market, they approached AllVoice to
become their first UK specialist reseller.  Adding IBM's products
while retaining independence, AllVoice continued to develop
value-added software and services and in 1995 launched
%(tp|WordExpress|TM).|%(tp|WordExpress|TM) was widely acclaimed and
was awarded a Confederation of British Industry award for innovation. 
Some features and functions were granted patents in the %(tp|UK and
US|other countries pending).  In December 2001, AllVoice granted a
licence for the use of its worldwide patents to Dictaphone and Lernout
& Hauspie for its past sales of Dragon NaturallySpeaking.)

#avwd: A program developped in 1995, apparently not for sale today, important
mainly for its history of being %(q:awarded) prizes and patents:
%(orig|%(tp|WordExpress|TM) was developed in 1995 as an interface to
sits between a speech recognition engine and a 3rd party application
into which text is dictated. At that point, and for some time after,
speech recognition products only allowed dictation into their own
specific %(q:dictation aware) applications. So when dictated text was
required in other applications the only method available was to copy
the text from the dictation application into the desired application,
a somewhat tiresome chore. WordExpress removed this chore, and others,
by allowing dictation directly into the chosen
application.|%(tp|WordExpress|TM) has received much praise over the
years including an innovation award from the %(tp|Confederation of
British Industry|CBI) acknowledging AllVoice's efforts.|Certain
features and functions of AllVoice software developments have now been
awarded patents and others are pending in many countries.)  The latter
sentence suggests that Allvoice has indeed been extracting money with
help of its two patents and is looking forward to a future of suing
companies in many countries.

#eoo: Beginning in 2000, Allvoice gained prominent attention in the UK
national media due to its litigation against L&H and IBM.

#Mei: Reports unilaterally from the viewpoint of AllVoice, falsely treating
%(q:WordExpress) as real speech recognition software: %(orig|Voice
recognition software developer AllVoice has launched a fresh appeal
against rival Dragon Systems in its wrangle over patent
infringements.|AllVoice, which released its WordExpress voice
recognition software in 1995, has filed a suit in a US court for
alleged infringement against Dragon.|The company has claimed that
Dragon, which is owned by Lernout & Hauspie, infringed part of a
WordExpress technology patent in the development of its
NaturallySpeaking voice recognition software, costing AllVoice
%(q:millions) in lost turnover.|The complaint was originally filed in
February 1999, but according to AllVoice, suffered from %(q:inordinate
delay in the US).|John Mitchell, managing director of AllVoice, said
it had secured both UK and US patents for its WordExpress software,
which allows users to play back dictation as well as checking wording
on screen. However, he claimed that Dragon released similar software
soon after.|Since the original complaint, Mitchell claimed Dragon has
continued to develop its NaturallySpeaking software and recently
shipped its latest version which he said %(q:still shows infringement
of the AllVoice software).|%(q:AllVoice will not give up until the
patent infringement issue has been sorted out,) Mitchell said.|The
Department of Trade and Industry has become involved because of a
World Trade Organisation agreement between the UK and US, which
AllVoice claims has been violated.)

#ipm: Report about the crisis at Lernout and Hauspie of 2001, mentions
patent litigation with AllVoice as one of the major strains on the
company: %(orig|Meanwhile, L&H's voice recognition subsidiary Dragon
is still involved in a legal battle with UK software developer
AllVoice. The firm, which released WordExpress voice recognition
software in 1995, filed two more injunctions against Dragon in the US
courts last week.|Despite L&H's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, Dragon
still ships its Naturally Speaking Version 5 software, which AllVoice
claims breaches its US and UK patents.|John Mitchell, managing
director, said AllVoice secured UK and US patents for its software,
but alleged that Dragon released similar software shortly afterwards,
infringing patents.|%(q:This has continued for more than two years,)
he said. %(q:We cannot sell our software when Dragon is including it
in its products for free.))  Dragon of course was not including
software from AllVoice but at best incling features in its user
interface which AllVoice, a company who has not developped any speech
recognition software of its own, had patented.  Indeed it is difficult
to sell a standalone user interface.

#WWW: reports with slight irony about Allvoice's strategy and their legal
dispute with IBM: %(orig|ALLVOICE ALL PATENTED|Devon-based AllVoice
Computing has successfully applied for US patent law protection for
the innovations within its WordExpress software that links IBM's
speech recognition engine directly to Microsoft Word. AllVoice is
involved in a long running legal dispute with IBM over allegations
that IBM engaged in predatory pricing, misused confidential
information and mounted a dirty tricks campaign against AllVoice. IBM
refuse to comment on these allegations.)

#uaW: Lawyer of Lernout & Hauspie report about their success in fending off
the claims of Allvoice and obtaining a settlement: %(orig|AllVoice
Computing v. L&H Holdings USA, Inc.|software for preserving playback
of dictated speech; case settled after defeating two preliminary
injunction attempts and winning appeal) and %(orig|AllVoice Computing
plc v. %(tp|L&H Holdings USA, Inc.|formerly Dragon Systems,
Inc.)|Successfully handled a federal appeal for its client L&H
Holdings, which had been sued by AllVoice Computing for patent
infringement. After Fish & Richardson defeated AllVoice's motion for a
preliminary injunction, AllVoice appealed. A day after the Federal
Circuit heard oral argument on the appeal, the Court summarily
affirmed the district court's decision. Boston principal Jolynn
Lussier handled the appeal with assistance from associate Craig Smith
and trial counsel Jack Skenyon.)

#tWg: A trade organisation quotes from a PR of AllVoice: %(orig|AllVoice
Computing PLC of Newton Abbot, England and IBM Corporation have
entered into a licence agreement with regard to certain voice
recognition software. Under the terms of the recently concluded deal,
IBM has acquired for an undisclosed sum a world-wide non-exclusive
licence to all of AllVoice's voice recognition software patents. John
Mitchell, Managing Director of AllVoice, said %(q:I am delighted to
have concluded this deal and to have obtained this further recognition
for AllVoice's contribution to this exciting field.))

#tas: AllVoice is a sponsor of this zone in the Exeter university library
which provides special facilities of IT access for the disabled. 
AllVoice itself offers government-sponsored courses to help the
disabled access such facilities, e.g. by means of dicating software.

#PAI: Today Programme %(q:A Question of Invention)

#ose: AllVoice calls for patent aid

#CPW: SEC to Probe L&H

#uaE: The UK press uncritically took up the myth of the small guy fighting
big evildoers, as spread by AllVoice and their parliamentary
representative:

#mrm: A small British computer firm with patents on an invention potentially
worth millions is being ripped off by one of the world's biggest
companies and stymied by American courts, an MP claimed yesterday.

#ucl: Allvoice, a Devon-based company, could even go out of business because
it alleges that IBM has infringed its patents for using voice
recognition technology with computers, while in the US a similar
infringement claim against Dragon Systems has taken more than a year
to conclude its preliminary hearing - which usually takes only a few
days.

#ooa: Allvoice's system means people can talk to their computers, rather
than typing into keyboards, and enter words directly into documents,
correct them, and play back what they actually said.

#sat: In Westminster Hall, Patrick Nicholls, Conservative MP for
Teignbridge, said during a short debate that rather than being a
multi-million-pound firm, Allvoice was struggling for its very
existence. He blamed this on the anti-competitive behaviour of certain
US companies and the procrastination of the US judiciary. He told MPs
that US firms IBM and Dragon Systems had been developing their own
voice recognition system but it had many faults and problems which the
Allvoice system had managed to iron out.

#stt: The US firms invited Allvoice representatives to meet them on the
premise that they were interested in buying the system. But IBM later
announced that they were developing a new voice recognition system
based on many of the Allvoice applications.

#nuf: %(q:The way US business has rallied round to destroy Allvoice would
make a pack of sharks look like a group of nuns,) Mr Nicholls said.

#tmi: John Mitchell, managing director of Allvoice, said afterwards: %(q:We
started our patent infringement case against Dragon in February last
year. But the preliminary injunction has been delayed and delayed.)

#tbW: Indeed the injunction was not only delayed but defeated, because the
patents of AllVoice were not found to be very strong.

#rai: Some excerpts from the Financial Times article by Fiona Harvey.

#dpr: AllVoice has filed a complaint against IBM with the European
Commission, the European Union's Brussels-based executive.

#its: Patrick Nicholls, MP for Teignbridge in Devon, said the case showed
the difficulty small companies faced in enforcing patents against
multinationals. Patricia Hewitt, small business minister, said the
trade department would 'determine whether the US was fully compliant
with its obligations to enforce patents' under intellectual property
law.

#wnn: A tiny Devon-based software company has received settlement of a
two-year-old patent claim against a former speech technology giant.
AllVoice said it finally won its claim against Lernout & Hauspie, once
the world's leading speech technology company and now bankrupt, for
about £400,000 ($575,959). The British company alleged that the larger
rival had stolen some of its technology, which helps computers to
recognise human speech, and used it in several products.

#slW: This text is copied from a PR on the Allvoice website which adds, as
of 2003/08/10:

#alt: AllVoice was awarded the CBI award for technical innovation for its
voice recognition products in 1996.

#sWf: Other statements by AllVoice say that AllVoice was %(q:awarded a
patent for its contribution to voice recognition technology).  Upon
closer look however it becomes clear that AllVoice has contributed
nothing to speech recognition itself.  Moreover, patents are not
%(q:awarded for contributions) nor are they a proof of excellence in
any field.

#egW: Speech recognition technology excites large US corporations

#oce: Imagine you want to record information from a prospective customer
without the need for human intervention. Generic speech recognition
technology focuses almost entirely on improving speed and accuracy. 
However, AllVoice looks at the technology from another angle - the
user's perspective.

#irW: The company's innovations cover the need to streamline error handling
i.e. mis-recognitions. 'WordExpress' is a highly successful PC
flagship product and they have developed 'CallVoice', speech
recognition technology to automate conversations. A test demonstration
system that will gather your name and address can be called on
01626333558. You can alternatively choose two other demonstrations, by
voice naturally, to check if your lottery numbers have won or to find
out past lottery results.

#hWr: AllVoice's Managing Director, John Mitchell, first became involved in
speech recognition in 1992, noticing that US products were seriously
lacking in real user facilities. Although surprised initially by this
crucial oversight, they first added simple macros. Later, they wrote
complex software that made AllVoice hugely successful with users and
their US suppliers, e.g. IBM, approached them to make them their only
UK main partner - recognising their national and international
success. Further innovations followed from there.

#nit: Funding for product development has been entirely from sales profits
until DTI SPUR and then SMART awards were obtained in recent years. 
AllVoice has been the subject of national and international media
coverage. This has caused a dilemma - how to cope with the massive
demand and maintain an adequate service to potential clients? The
solution has been to provide time limited demonstration software on to
their web site. Payment results in an unlocking key - thus saving a
delivery cost.

#rWi: Since their entry into speech recognition, AllVoice have grown at an
impressive rate - 20 staff from 6 in two years with exponential
growth. AllVoice are continuously developing their technology and its
applications.

#rab: They have learnt about IPR the hard way, as so many do. Initial
technology was included in other software without recognition or
royalty. Despite UK and US patents on recent innovations AllVoice have
to actively protect their technology through legal action. A key
obstacle has been the lack of support to help protect UK innovations
against patent infringements and anti-competitive activities by
corporate giants. Mr Mitchell argues that we need Government support
or a change in legislation to prevent these sort of attacks. A simple
legislation change would be to require anyone bringing a case to put
at risk a percentage of their turnover. Thus the large corporate would
have to compete on an equal basis to the SME.

#iec: John Mitchell said: %(q:No one had ever achieved what we set out to
achieve - thus we never really knew if it could be done. It is easy
for another to then copy your lead in the knowledge that a solution is
possible. We are proud of what we have achieved for the advancement
and use of speech recognition.)

#tlt: Proposal to introduce additional damages for UK Patent Infringement

#aiW: The Bill to amend the Patents Act 1977 to enable a court to award
additional damages in an action for patent infringement, taking into
account the flagrancy of the infringer, has been reintroduced to
Parliament. Its aim is to help patent owners, especially SMEs, to
enforce their patent rights and to provide a deterrent to potential
infringers.

#lwW: This very short private member's bill was apparently inspired by a
legal fight of the UK-based AllVoice computer software company against
the giant US computer company, IBM. AllVoice claimed that IBM had
exploited its voice recognition technology.

#okh: The Bill was originally introduced last autumn (see our October
newsletter by [18]clicking here) but was withdrawn due to a
technicality. It has now been reintroduced as a Ten-Minute Rule Bill.
If enacted, it will bring patent law into line with that of copyright
and design right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
which provides for additional damages.

#jet: Last autumn, the Patent Office was seeking the views from industry on
the Bill.

#see: A key motivation for the Bill as presented in the House of Commons
Research Paper 02/23 appears to be to give SMEs greater leverage in
enforcing their patents against big companies. The bill was apparently
inspired by the legal fight of the UK-based AllVoice computer software
company against IBM. However, the Bill has received opposition from
both big organisations and SMEs.

#doW: Arlene McCarthy has repeatedly been touting AllVoice and its founders
as a model of the kind of software SME which the EU should be helping
with the proposed software patents legislation.  McCarthy however did
not mention them by name.  She spoke only of a %(q:british speech
recognition software SME founded by a couple in an unemplyment
blackspot in UK, which, thanks to patent protection, succeded in
protecting its innovation against nasty big business competitors and
thereby growing from 2 to 50 employees.)

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