Los Angeles - Apple (NASD: AAPL), AT&T (NYSE: T), Skype (NASD: EBAY) and cable TV operators including Comcast (NASD: CMCSA) and Cablevision have been sued for patent infringement by Klausner Technologies, over patents that cover certain attributes of voicemail that give users visual notification of incoming messages, and allow selective retrieval of messages.

In the case of Apple and AT&T, from which Klausner is seeking $360 million in damages and future royalties, the company says that the iPhone's Visual Voicemail feature is infringing on its patents.

"The iPhone violates Klausner's intellectual property rights by allowing the user to selectively retrieve voice messages via the iPhone's inbox display," the company said in a statement.

The other defendants were also sued over various "visual" voicemail features.

Klausner filed a similar $200 million patent suit against AOL in June 2005, which the company eventually settled; Vonage also settled a suit brought by Klausner earlier this year.

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http://snipurl.com/1un4t (AP)